Vacation or War: Endgame
by LoorTheDarkElf
Summary: She's alive, but broken. What is a person, but a sum of their memories? Without her past, is she really a person at all? Book three of the VoW trilogy
1. To Save a Life

Hello everyone out there on Fanfiction! I'd like to welcome you to the third and last book of the Vacation or War trilogy.

**If you've just stumbled here now without seeing the other two books**, I suggest you go back and check them out before reading here, or you're going to be quite confused. The first book is Vacation or War, second books is Vacation or War: Return. Happy reading!

**If you're here fresh from the last chapter of book two, **welcome! I hope you're excited to get back into Haven and Jak's adventures, as well as all the other disasters I've got planned for Jak, Daxter, and Loor. I can't think of anything else to say without giving out mild spoilers, so let us get started! Like usual my disclaimer will appear at the top, and then there will be the 'Author's Corner' at the bottom.

On

With

The

Fic!

OWTF!

**I do not own Jak and Daxter, Jak 3, Haven city, or any other copy-written item mentioned in this work of fiction. While Loor is mine and the story is my intellectual property I am not making any money off of this work; is it exclusively for entertainment. **

**Vacation or War- Endgame  
><strong>**Chapter One- To Save A Life**

_**Are we dead?**_

The question received no response, which almost seemed to validate the nature in which it was asked; fearful and lonely tones blocking out Lyra's usually melodic and malevolent voice. She'd been here since she escaped for those few exciting moments, here since she wasted all the eco in their system and, only now did she realize this, doomed them to death. She'd known it before, and now she knew it after, but in the moment all she'd cared about was freedom; being allowed to do as she wanted, kill who she wanted, and to experience the world for the fleeting seconds she could steal.

Lyra sat in an empty space that she assumed was within the mind that she and Loor shared, simply because she couldn't think of existing anywhere else. This was home, the place she stayed while she wasn't in the outside world, which was most of the time. Usually this place wasn't empty, though. Loor had made a room for them, full of pillows and blankets and soft things, things they both liked. Loor had made the room to be hers alone, decorated in dark green tones, her favorite, but Lyra's influence turned many of those blankets and pillows a deep violet.

The color of the eco that was her lifeblood.

Now there was no color; black and gray was all she could sense in this space. There may have been a hint of purple, far in the distance, but there was no way Lyra would be able to reach it if she decided to chase it; a step towards it seemed to take it two more steps away.

That and to chase the violet haze on the horizon would mean leaving Loor behind.

Lyra looked away from that far-off color, back to the gray floor, to where Loor was lying. Her form here was as it had always been; an expression of how she used to be. Once she'd been just a little girl of blond tones and short rounded ears, blue eyes and a young body. Things had long changed from that, but Loor wouldn't let go of her child-self in her mind; this is how she thought of herself. She was sprawled on the ground, as if she'd fallen, one arm curled around her head while the other was thrown out, reaching for something. She was dressed in a tunic of the same green tones that she loved so, tided and trimmed in Lyra's violet.

Lyra was robed as well, though her tunic was shorter and her sleeves were longer and wider, purple to base, tied and trimmed in Loor's green. They were mixed, always mixed, but Lyra had noticed several things in this place that disturbed her.

Loor had no colors of the moment. Her body and clothes appeared in monochrome; shades of gray that made her look like stone. Likewise, the green that appeared on Lyra's own clothes was also a dim shade of gray instead of vibrant and lively forest green. This put strange thoughts into Lyra's usually thoughtless mind, looking about and asking her question in a different way.

_**Are you dead...? **_She quested this time, the fear growing. She didn't like fear, but she did know it, more now than ever. She couldn't feel Loor anywhere. It was like the girl, her host, didn't exist.

Usually this would be a cause for joy, the animal had been trying to get rid of her since she began, but now she leaned down and nudged the body on the floor. She had assumed if Loor died, so would she. They were linked in life, thus bound in death. Existence trapped in her mind would end, and Lyra would either cease to be or become something new and independent.

But here was Loor's image, none of her presence, and Lyra was still alive and alone. Still alive, and still trapped, and alone. _**Where are you? I don't understand... **_

The animal paced around the body for hours, perhaps days, looking for answers. The purple haze on the horizon grew stronger and closer over time, eventually dying the gray floor a lovely shade of lavender instead of gray, but the darkness persisted and Loor gained no color from it. Her body remained gray, still as a statue.

Dead, Lyra realized. This image of Loor was a dead image of her. Not breathing, not moving, never waking, never stirring. Sleeping, but not. Sleeping, never to wake.

The darkness seemed to get more oppressive as the purple came closer, and Lyra wondered about it. She looked up at it; a black space that looked like an ever-morphing cloud of oil. If she got to her feet and reached for it she could come quite close to touching it, but not close enough. Her talons would not reach it, and even if she jumped she had the feeling that it would move to evade her.

Anyway, her base instinct to be free-willed, attacking as she pleased, was what had brought her here. She needed to think more about her actions, assuming she ever got out of this place and was ever able to act again.

She looked back to Loor's colorless body, stalking over and rolling the girl onto her back. The weight moved without resistance, and Lyra stared down at the girl's face. She could rip this body apart, she noted. What reason was there to keep it? It was dead, nothing to care for, just taking up space and tying her down here.

She readied talons to attack, but hesitated. She felt no pleasure from these thoughts. What point was there in ripping something that was already dead? Growling, she returned to her pacing, looking around and seeking some sort of change. This couldn't go on forever...

Could it?

The change eventually came, but it wasn't from the purple mist that was slowly thickening into an impenetrable fog. It came from the body. Lyra had been crouched next to it, her tail twitching now and then from the irritation of holding still. She avoided the fog, so her range for pacing became smaller and smaller as it drew in closer around herself and the corpse of her host.

Then the body, as it had been still all this time, moved. The movement was small, but Lyra noticed at once, looking down.

The eyes had opened, staring up like a doll. Unlike the rest, the eyes had color. Loor's blue eyes, striking against the grays, looked desperately up at the darkness.

And Lyra looked up, and growled softly as she saw a change had happened there too.

Another set of eyes, rather like Loor's but different. They were the eyes that Loor had in real life, beyond the image of herself as a child. They shined a deep green around the pupil, but the rims were rich violet. At first both sets of eyes only looked at each other, the child staring at her adult reality, the shadow of an adult staring down at her child-self.

Then the eyes in the darkness turned to Lyra. Only the eyes, no face to go with them, all Lyra knew was that she had the attention of the darkness, and it drew closer to the ground from where the eyes were. It morphed, changing gently until another part below the eyes began to push out and reach even further down.

Hesitantly, Lyra stood up and reached out, watching as the protrusion of black shivered and changed.

The darkness evaporated back, revealing a human hand that was a first gray, but gained proper color as Lyra's own hand came close to clasping it. The color seemed to race up into the darkness, the horrible cloud changing shape again, the area that was sagging down giving the suggestion of a woman trapped within it's expanse, reaching out for help.

It also effected Lyra. In a moment, in that blooming of peach skin, she felt Loor's presence again. She was there!

Trapped in the darkness.

Lyra reached now in earnest, aiming to take her hand and drag her out of the darkness, the fear banished by the fact that her host lived.

Contact was nearly made when the darkness rebelled, shifting and shaking, retaking the hand and snatching it up and away from Lyra's reach. Still the eyes existed, and watched in wide fear as the arm vanished and a single drop of the darkness broke away, falling to the ground.

It splattered like oil, hitting the floor near where Loor's body still remained, her child-body. Lyra hissed at it, watching it. There was something wrong, she could sense. Something dangerous.

Suddenly the splatter came back together, and then changed into something else. From a drop to a creature, it became a snake that darted towards the child-body, fangs ready for a strike.

Lyra yowled in protest, flashing out a hand to snatch up the creature and fling it into the darkness, her talons cutting it into five neat little pieces as it was launched from her grip. She didn't know what it was, but she could still sense it out there; it's pieces, still wriggling for life.

The darkness wanted them dead. Is had put Loor into pieces so she couldn't wake up, and left Lyra alone. Now it strove to destroy the body, so there would be no hope for life.

Lyra placed herself standing above the body, yowling and preparing herself. She would protect her host. Protect the body until the other half could find its way down from the darkness.

She looked back up at the darkness, to find the eyes that had looked at her. She still sensed Loor, trapped up in the caustic cloud, and eventually she found the eyes were still watching her, but there was fear and hesitation.

_**I'll protect you. I'll protect you until we can wake up. **_

The eyes shut slowly, as if to rest and build strength for the next attempt.

Just as Lyra had felt her fear, she could also feel her trust.

* * *

><p>It had been slightly more than a month since Jak and Loor had returned to Haven city.<p>

Not that anyone knew that they'd left, as loops through time tend to be difficult to explain, but Jak took the time to tell those who needed to know. Samos, particularly, who likely passed the knowledge on to Onin and Pecker. Daxter, of course, since Jak knew the ottsel would ask until someone told him something. Ashelin and Torn heard as much as they needed to, though that wasn't much beyond the treatment for Loor's affliction.

Loor had left, run away, really, to go back to her own time. Her home, eons in the past, in a time that didn't have eco.

After what the Baron had done to her upon her original arrival to Haven, that was a death sentence that Jak couldn't let her go through with. He went after her, full intent to drag her back whether she liked it or not.

And he had, and also gotten a little vacation out of it. He'd spent a week and some in Loor's sleepy time period, but even in the safest places things can go horribly wrong.

Lyra got free at the last moments. The transformation had been triggered by a fight between Loor and a long-time rival, emotions running high enough for the animal to get loose, wasting the eco that Loor had left in her system, using it up and nearly killing her.

But they'd gotten back in time, and Loor's body had been revitalized with eco before all of her major organs shut down. Her lungs, heart, and all other important bits were working fine weeks after the infusion, but there was just one problem.

Her brain was practically a flat line.

In the month since the initial treatment, Loor had been moved several times. First from the make-shift field hospital in the base of the place that was set up after Kor's defeat for those wounded fighting for the city, into one of the staterooms that had been modified for long-term care, then again when the actual hospital in Haven was cleaned up and open for patients. It wasn't until she was in an actual medical facility that they even took a read of her brain activity, since it was the only thing left to blame for her continued stasis, and the reading left Jak where he was at that very moment.

A month and some after he figured safe again, sitting at her bedside, a tight frown on his face as he was left with a choice.

Things were starting to happen again. It had only been a month since Kor's defeat, but the city was suffering metal bug infestations, metal heads sighted along the walls, and movement in the wastes. It looked as if the creatures were still organized, but that was all just rumors right now. Either way, new wounded were coming in every day; the hospital was busy with subway workers that had gotten chewed on by metal bugs, or wall-patrols that had fallen victim to groups of creatures they couldn't outrun in time.

The doctors didn't want a brain-dead patient taking up a bed and life support, not when that bed could go to someone else with a much better chance of survival. They had already considered her beyond help, only keeping her because Jak demanded it, but that wouldn't last much longer either.

But Jak had an idea. He'd come there today to sit by her bed as he always did, but today was with a different resolve. He'd made sure that Daxter didn't come with him this time, though he usually welcomed his friend's company. Not today.

Today he was either going to save Loor, or kill her himself. It all depended on whether or not his idea was right.

He'd made sure to shut the door behind himself. He didn't want anyone to see what he was about to do. He first sat in the chair next to the bed in the white hospital room, but then moved to sit on the edge of the bed, looking down at her.

She looked like she was sleeping; her face was peaceful and had healthy color. It looked like she'd wake if he just nudged her, but he knew better. He tired that a long time ago, and felt both stupid and horrible inside for it.

No, this had to do with the eco. Her body had come back when they fed it into her veins, though as her brain had faded so had the automatic function of her lungs, and the beat of her heart. She'd been attached to machines to force the function of these parts, despite the puzzlement of the doctors, because the organs themselves were perfectly healthy. He wanted to see her standing again, without a tube down her throat breathing for her and needles in her arms, feeding her.

She was better than that.

He put his hands to her head. His idea was a simple one; both he and Loor could adsorb eco, and when they did it sparked, arcing and shocking them a little bit. Loor's body may have come back, but her mind had not.

Jak's only idea was that it still needed the jolt. It needed a more violent application of energy to wake back up after being so close to death.

He'd taken on a pretty good charge himself before coming today, planning this moment since the doctors told him that they'd take her off life support if she didn't wake up soon.

He closed his eyes, reaching into himself. It was now or never. Restraining a full transformation while forcing the eco out of his body was something that was normally a little more difficult, but both sides of him were in agreement of what needed to be done here. The monster in him didn't want Loor to die either; he still wanted to fight her in a more proper setting and prove dominance.

Still, a low growl escaped him as he gave over most of his body to the change, energy sparking around and between his fingers as he endeavored to keep his mind. He had to stay at the wheel.

The purple sparks burned him and the pillow that Loor's head rested on, but several of them also sunk into her temples, making her twitch and the serene look on her face change to something pained and agitated. He almost lost it in a moment of hope, feeling her move next to him, watching her expression and searching for a clear sign that she just might wake up.

It didn't seem like it was going to be enough.

He gritted his teeth.

_Now or never. _

The rest of the energy came in a violent burst.

* * *

><p><strong>The Author's Corner<strong>

Hiiiiii! How is everyone? Yeah, this scene got a little bit bigger than I expected... Oh well! Meow!

See you guys next time around,

-Loor


	2. Awake and Alive

**I don't own Jak and Daxter. Sorry peeps. **

**Vacation or War- Endgame  
><strong>**Chapter Two- Awake and Alive**

Lyra snarled, all of her fur bristled as she crouched over Loor's body in a protective stance. She could sense it; the snake she'd tossed out into the purple fog had changed into something else. Where there had been one little creature, five new ones were forming. The darkness was feeding them, growing larger above them and making the whole world turn darker. They would come soon, all for Loor's body. They wanted to obliterate her, finish her off.

Loor would have wondered what they were, but it was not Lyra place to wonder such things. She bared her fangs and roared out a challenge, constantly twisting her head to try and see through the fog.

Then one of the five new creatures moved. It was fast, leaping from the fog and letting out a roar similar to Lyra's to accept her challenge, making her turn just in time to seize it and dig her claws into its body. Her eyes didn't take much note of whatever it was; she understood black scaly skin, thick claws reaching for her, and an impressive set of teeth, also trying to remove her. It had four legs, two on the floor, the front set trying to get closer in to rip her apart.

Another one was moving. With a scream Lyra took a firmer hold of this creature and hefted it around, throwing it where she felt another one was coming, grinning in brief victory when the two collided.

The other three were still growing though, Lyra could sense. They were stil out there, feeding off of the darkness. And the first two weren't gone, simply disentangling from each other. They'd be on their feet and on the attack again soon.

Lyra glanced down to Loor's body, and then up to the darkness above her. The monster she'd just thrown was bigger than her, and when the others came she'd likely be outmatched. They had to make a move soon. Lyra didn't know if this would all stop when she got the other half down from the darkness, but she did know it was a goal she could focus on.

The other set of eyes was up there, looking drowsy and sad, blinking slowly and dully watching what was happening below.

_**Soon! **_Lyra demanded, her head whipping around as she felt the two tangled monsters on the move again. They were coming out of the fog, much slower this time.

That was because they were still tangled up. The head of the first beast had been forced out to the side of the lumpy mass, and the head of the snake lifted up on a long neck, its fangs out and ready, dripping with venom. Like living clay the snake's body has gotten warped around and fused to the quadruped's structure, the tail looping out and then coming back, stuck to the more dog-like creature's rear left leg. The snake was obviously bigger now, it's eyes glowing with black fire as it hissed and tensed for a strike.

Lyra dove away from Loor for a moment to intercept the strike, ducking under the snake's head and shoving her talons in, her own fangs biting for the face of the more canine head, ripping with enough violence to remove the snake head and take one eye from the dog. She pulled back, rounding and throwing the snake's still-moving head back into the fog, getting it as far away as she could toss it before coming back to the body the two creatures had been sharing. Several strikes were given, severing feet and ripping open its chest to find there were no organs, only shadows.

Then another movement; behind her. Something had been sneaking, and was at the edge of the fog.

Close to Loor's body. Too close!

She threw herself back to intercept the third creature to come out of the fog, but only made it in time to take the hit herself; a black cat standing taller than a man had come out fangs-first, great spines sicking out of its body that would make grabbing it an ill-fated venture. The moment Lyra put herself between it and the body she knew she was going to end up in this creature's bite, and thought quickly to throw her hands out and take hold of it's upper and lower jaws, bellowing with effort to hold its mouth open and prevent the fatal blow.

Then she found her smile, pushing just that much harder to rip the cat's head in half from the jaw, wedging the lower jaw down and then getting more distance by holding it down with her foot, both hands shoving the upper end up. The teeth that were her hand-hold cut her, but the sickening crack of bone and the tearing of flesh made it worthwhile. Tossing the head aside, she went for the body that tried to attack her while the head flopped useless and broken, several slashes putting the animal down for the count, letting Lyra push it back into the fog with one foot; the only one she had left that wasn't bleeding.

She took back her sentry position over the body, protecting it still. She had to protect it. The forth monster was moving, and the fifth was still feeding. Still growing.

And something else was feeding on the darkness. The snake head she'd tossed back into the fog, and the pieces she'd cut out of the dog... and the cat! She realized with horror that all the pieces she'd thrown back into the fog were morphing and changing into something else. She couldn't kill these creatures; by ripping them apart she was simply making more of them!

There weren't just five now, there might have been nine, or ten, and more would form as she kept ripping them and throwing them away from her precious charge. She was already bloodied; the next rush might prove deadly.

She looked up to the darkness above her, searching for the eyes. _**Loor! NOW! **_

Eyes that had rested closed sprung open, staring down at Lyra and seeming to doubt. Lyra could feel her fear, but didn't care. _**It has to be now! **_

The forth monster had found the remains of the cat, and Lyra could feel the two of them morphing into something even bigger, the darkness helping them fuse together. The fifth was done, starting to approach through the violet fog. Lyra didn't look, couldn't look, staring up at the eyes in the darkness, willing Loor to try for her freedom.

It had to be now. She abandoned all thoughts of defense, reaching up to encourage her.

The eyes descended, and again the hand began to reach out of the darkness. The fingertips changed from black to gray, from gray to the proper peach tone of Loor's skin. Lyra stood on her toes, reaching up with both hands for her host. The hand came further, the darkness receding back as far as her elbow, a whole arm coming into color and life.

It was still too far away. Lyra could not reach her, as for every inch she came free of the darkness, it pulled higher away, pulling the arm away with it. It didn't want her to escape; it wanted her to die.

The forth monster, fused with the cat, was beginning to move. It was at the edge of the fog, and Lyra could feel it watching. It would attack soon. At any moment, it would come. The fifth was nearly to the edge as well. The others were all alive and gathering. They would attack all at once and swamp both child and protector.

That's when Lyra felt something else. A spark she hadn't felt properly for a long time.

She'd almost forgotten about the eco that fed her, kept her alive. She felt a massive supply that she'd ignored up until this point. Something was stimulating it within her, and it made her feel stronger, more powerful.

It gave her an idea. She waited on it, hoping that maybe the darkness would lose its power and lower her host back down, but no such thing happened, and the sparks were getting stronger. It wasn't as if she just thought she could do something, the power _demanded_ she do something.

So she did. She bent her knees, tensed and ready. She felt the sparks like they were leaping off of her body, bursting violently; so much power needed to be expended somehow.

She let it off as the monsters charged, a wave of dangerous energy flying off of her as she leapt up in the air, her hands diving into the darkness to find the rest of Loor. She wrapped around something in the oily cloud, and the arm that had already come free wrapped around her, hope blooming between them. Life, they wanted life! They would live!

Lyra yanked, thrashing to help her get free, dragging her out of the darkness and back down. The monsters had been knocked back but they were still there. They had to get this part of Loor back to her body, put the two pieces back together, and wake up!

They dropped together, away from the high reaches that the darkness had lifted them to, free from it's grip and speeding back to the ground.

Back to their body.

* * *

><p>When she awoke, it was with the gasp of leaving a nightmare. There was sweat on her body, and she knew she'd just escaped a terror beyond all description. Her eyes opened, and she blinked for the wonder of white light. It was all around, in a white room, making her head hurt. As grateful as she was for being awake and alive, she groaned and squinted to the point that she wasn't really able to see anything, just blurry images of things.<p>

Then she realized that someone was touching her. There had been someone with their hands on her head, thumbs on her temples, who was now letting go of her brain case to hold her hand in their lap. Turning her head, she opened her eyes a little more cautiously this time to see who was sitting with her, holding her.

"Loor." He said when she looked at him; a teenaged boy of most pleasing figure and skin tone, dressed in a simple blue shirt and faded gray pants. She noted him first as blond, but there was green at his roots, along with a green goatee that had fallen into some neglect; the hair around it needed to be trimmed if he didn't want it turning into a full-on beard. Blue eyes stared at her, a slight smile on his face. She noted his ears for some reason; they were quite long and pointed, and that struck her as strange.

He smiled as if he should have been familiar to her, but he was not. None of this was familiar, but maybe she was just disoriented. Either way, she smiled gently in return. She was alive, and for some reason she felt as if she shouldn't be. Perhaps she owed this man her life, maybe he was a doctor, or maybe he wasn't. She didn't care; she smiled for the joy of life. She felt as if she should greet him somehow, but an attempt at speaking led her to realize that there was a tube down her throat.

That wasn't true for very long though. In moments there were more people in the room, making the man she'd woken up with back away as they unplugged a great deal of equipment that had been keeping her alive apparently. In moments she'd had two IV drips removed from her arms, the breathing apparatus removed from her throat, and all else that was keeping her vital organs working removed. Once she was no longer hooked up to anything almost everyone was forced out of the room, including the man.

Only one person remained in the room with her, and the door was shut. He, along with all the people who had removed life support from her, had the same long ears she'd noted on the man who had been holding her hand. She thought them odd but they seemed to be common. Normal. This man that remained with her was clearly a doctor, wearing a white coat with his name stitched in symbols on the right breast. She read it to herself quickly; 'Scorp.'

"You've been asleep for a month." The doctor, Scorp, told her. He was an older man with nothing more than a dark stubble on his head for hair, a modest salt-and-pepper mustache being his only other major feature. He looked at her with brown eyes that were intense and serious. "I have to ask you a few questions that may seem strange, but are important for telling us just how well you're doing."

"Asleep?" The first word she'd spoke, and her voice felt strange and raspy after having that tube removed. She wanted water, but didn't ask for it yet. Information was more important. "Was I drugged?"

"Brain dead, practically." The doctor pulled up a chair to sit at the foot of her bed, picking up a clip board out of a pouch hanging off the end; her chart. "We were shooting in the dark, practically. But like I said, we have a few tests to run before we can let you go to see if you suffered any permanent damage-"

"Who was that man? The one who was with me? Should I know him?"

The doctor blinked, looking at her with a small frown. "You're saying you don't?"

"I... he smiled like he knew me, but I'm not sure if I know him. Will he come back? I want to talk to him."

"And I'm sure he wants to talk to you, though he might not like what he hears..." The doctor took a deep breath, letting it out as a sigh. "Now, I have a few questions for you. Once you've answer them I can tell you more about what's going on, but I need to know what you know before I can tell you what I know, okay?"

She felt her brow coming down. "Am I... do you think I'm brain damaged? You're talking to me like I'm a child."

"And you're acting a little like one." He pointed out. "That's the point of the questions, to figure out if we should be looking for brain damage. And speaking of your age, that would be one of the first questions. How old are you, when is your birthday?"

She thought about it for a moment, feeling stupid. Asking someone's age is what you did to make conversation with a four-year-old, not how you congratulated a girl on beating death after a month of being a potato. She didn't really care if she was damaged anyway; she was _alive_. That counted more than anything.

There was just one problem though. As easy as it should have been to recall something as simple as her age, she could not. She knew she was old enough to think for herself and take care of herself, but no number came to mind. It frustrated her, since she knew her age was something important to her; the number of years she'd been alive meant a lot of things in what she was allowed and not allowed to do, though she couldn't remember why. She struggled with it a moment more, trying the thought from various angles. Finally, she huffed and admitted with a growl, "I don't know my age."

"Birthday?" He quested, gently. He could see she was having a hard time.

Again, she considered it and shook her head. "Uh... somewhere in the summer time? Do you have the right answers on there? It really bothers me, not knowing... if you told me, maybe it would help me remember."

"I do, but I've got one more question before I can start sharing."

She glared at him, he was talking to her like she was a child again. Her previous answers clearly pointed to some kind of memory loss, even she could see that. Something felt wrong in her mind, and she figured this next question was not going to be any easier than the last one.

"What is your name?" He asked, still gentle.

Her name? Really? She actually smirked at him, a person would have really had to have gotten fucked up to forget something like _that._ She opened her mouth, ready to speak it. She knew her name. Her name was who she was, defined her in her own little world. Her name was who she'd always be.

And, with her mouth open, she realized something with horror.

"I... I-I don't know."

* * *

><p><strong>The Author's Corner<strong>

ODAM.

You guys have no idea how much I've looked forward to all this. When I first started the VoW project I kinda feared going after the amnesia cliché, but it turned out to be a lot of fun in the end, and it's being a lot of fun this time around too. :D

MEOW!

-Loor


	3. Pathways

**Hi everyone! **I know I said I'd keep the author notes on the bottom, but something has cropped up on the reviews for the last chapter that makes me think I phrased something wrong, so let's get a quick explanation out of the way before I move things along here.

The _Vacation or War _trilogy was born out of a want to prove bad clichés wrong. I saw the hate that SI stories got right out of the gate, and saw most of it was justified, but decided I wanted to create something that proved the cliché wrong. That you could use all those tired devices; the romance plot with the main character, a disturbed main character that is based off of the author, incredible physical changes to the main character's appearance, bringing the lead fictional character into our world, and so on and so forth, and make a both interesting and fun story out of it. That is was indeed possible, and that these plot devices in themselves weren't bad, but the way the author used them that made them bad.

And when I got to the third book, amnesia was the only major cliché I was yet to tick off the list. And look back at that list of usually icky plot devices up there; things that usually turn any reader off of any fanfic within the first chapter. You know they all happened. And from what I hear, you guys still like the story. But now I got people going 'Oh fuck you decided to go with the amnesia shit?' like it's my first day on the field. People, look at what you're reading! I made a huge effort to take these unpalatable clichés and make them into something good, and you're gonna doubt me _now? _Nearly a quarter of a million words later?

C'mon guys, cut me a _little_ slack.

Okay, rant over. Let's move it along.

**I don't own Jak and Daxter. **

**Other quick disclaimer; this whole idea was inspired by my HIGH SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGY CLASS; I'm not a med student. I can just make is SOUND nice. If you are a med student, I'm sorry if I insulted you with my lack of knowledge, and wonder how the hell you found the time to read fanfiction with all the terms you're supposed to be memorizing. Shouldn't you be studying? J/K! **

**Vacation or War- Endgame  
><strong>**Chapter Three- Pathways**

Many more questions were asked after that, many that she simply couldn't answer unless it had to do with her intimidate condition, or something technical. Language still stuck in her brain, though she knew two different symbols for every letter in the alphabet and the doctors didn't recognize the second set. She knew numbers, math, and spent a great deal of her time at the hospital with a notebook and a pen, jotting down numbers and formulas while waiting for the next person who wanted to take a look into her mental condition.

Sadly, if asked where she'd learned any of these things, she drew a blank. She knew no names, no people, no places. She did not know where she called home, if she had parents or siblings, or even friends. There was nothing left in her head but factual knowledge; nothing personal, nothing meaningful. She felt rather empty for that, but at the same time felt no sense of loss. Without the memories it wasn't as if she'd lost anything, it just wasn't there.

Finally, they scanned her head. It was a large and sophisticated machine that they put her in, and then they asked her all the same questions they'd asked her before, probably watching the activity to see if the right parts of her gray matter was lighting up. She found that unlikely, seeing as she still couldn't tell them how old she was, and they still hadn't told her.

Thankfully, other parts of her mind were still functioning properly. New memories were forming fine. She still remembered Dr. Scrop's name, what flavor of pudding they'd given her when she'd asked for something to eat (chocolate), and the boring color of gray her gummy-bottomed socks were. Her emotional centers were fine, and a prick of a needle in her extremities said the rest of her nervous system was doing dandy.

Which, after spending a night in the hospital, all led to some answers. They finally told her she was sixteen, her birthday was August twenty-eighth, and her name was Lauren Randolph, though her friends tended to call her Loor. She was currently in a city called Haven, which was one of the last human cities surviving on this side of the ocean. According to city records she'd only arrived just over two months ago, during both a violent civil war as the people of Haven tried to overthrow a tyrannical Baron, and an inter-species war as the same Baron tried to defend the city from creatures called metal heads.

The Baron had arrested her upon arrival for illegal immigration, meaning she hadn't had a city ID, and entered her into a program of some kind. Most of the paperwork had been destroyed; she'd be better off asking the young man who'd been here when she'd woken up.

Apparently she'd escaped, joined the resistance, and helped that same young man defeat the metal head leader and end both conflicts within the city, since the Baron was a casualty when things came down to the wire.

And then, during the victory party, something had happened to her. Again, the doctor wasn't quite sure how to describe her affliction or treatment, and encouraged her to talk to young man; his name was Jak and he'd been here every day since she'd been hospitalized.

With these answers came more questions, Lauren realized. This Jak person would hopefully know a lot more than this doctor, because she was getting frustrated with the fact that only the last two months of her life actually being documented, and even that being muddled up by a lack of paperwork, or the destruction there of. Still, given the brief history that was available, she only had one more question for this Dr. Scorp.

"So what did you find out about my brain?"

Scorp drew in a breath, sitting in that chair at the end of her hospital bed again. "As far as we could see, the damage is not to your memory centers themselves, but the pathways that connect them."

"Dendrites." She said suddenly, the word falling out of her mouth. "Neural pathways that allow memories to connect in giant webs of association."

"Exactly." The doctor agreed, surprised by her sudden interjection. "So I can give you a name, and you can find that name in your memory, but the ability to associate that name with a face, voice, or any memories is gone."

"What caused the damage?" She demanded after a moment of thought. She clearly hadn't come up with an explanation herself, and her irritation was growing. For some reason she felt as if she should have been able to at least come up with a theory.

"Something burned you." He reported. "There were burn marks on your pillow as well. The best guess we can wager was the wire harness around your head, monitoring brain activity, went haywire and shocked you."

"No way it produces that aggressive of a charge." She debunked at once, shaking her head and twisting her hands in the thin white blanket. "This doesn't make sense... Where is Jak? He was here when I woke up, have you asked him if anything happened? Did he see anything?"

The doctor held his hands up, a gentle plea for her questions to stop and give him a a chance to answer. She was very insistent. "He's here, waiting for your release. Yes, we asked him, and no, he says he didn't see anything."

"You don't believe him."

"No, I don't, but that's just my personal opinion of him. He seems wary of people he doesn't know, more so when we didn't let him in to see you this morning."

She nodded, frowning slightly. Jak, whoever he was, sounded as if he was very familiar with her. That or he was very bored and had nothing else to do besides check in on an invalid girl with no memories, or at least a damaged system of recalling them. "So, the dendrites in my brain got burned out. Will they heal? _Can_ they heal?"

"No." He frowned, leaning forward in his chair and putting his elbows on his knees. "The cauterized tissue is dead." He paused, and then added an addendum to this statement. "But, new dendrites can form, re-linking memories as you find them. You may meet a person and suddenly remember they like the color blue, or eat and apple and remember you like to dip the slices in caramel. Since the memories already exist it's as simple as re-treading the paths between them, cutting new swaths through the woods, so to speak. The burned paths _are_ dead though, and might act as a road-block to recalling the things that are most familiar to you. We told you your name and age, but you might spend years trying to figure out what to associate with the word 'home' because so many paths were made and then destroyed, and the burned out nerves will stand in the way of new ones forming."

Lauren accepted this information slowly, taking her time in digesting it as she signed some paperwork that the hospital had for her. She didn't read it, too busy thinking to care about what they needed her sloppily-written name on. At first she thought the term for what she was now was amnesiac, but the truth was she was brain damaged. That damage had resulted in a difficulty in recalling memories, but at least her missing past had a reason. For some reason that comforted her; she knew why she couldn't remember, and in time she could find what her mind was hiding, like searching a deep and dark cave for hidden treasures.

After a final form the staff of the hospital gave her a chance to bathe herself and change into some clean civilian clothes, slipping into a green shirt that she tucked into some simple blue pants, sliding a brown belt through the loops and switching out of her hospital slipper-socks and into a gray set of shoes.

She found herself disliking the shoes. They were too light. She wanted something heavy. The whole outfit was thin cotton and flimsy, but she couldn't refuse charity; she had nothing else. Dressed and clean, she tied her hair back while looking into a mirror for the first time since she woke up.

Her appearance surprised her, and she'd stopped questioning why things surprised her. She didn't know what she expected, but this was not it. She brushed a long cascade of black hair back, tying it up from a face that had some faint lines of stress forming, despite her teenager status. Fair skinned, faint freckles, a slight ski-jump nose, and high cheek bones all fit nicely together. The part that disturbed her were the eyes and ears.

She had long ears, just like everyone else. Of course they were long, she'd felt them brushing along walls that she'd walked too close to in the hospital, and bending along her pillow whenever she turned her head the wrong way, but to actually see them made her scrutinize them with eyes that felt strange looking back at her.

Eyes with violet rims, rich green hues around the pupil. That couldn't be natural, she concluded. Just like the scars all over her body; her shower had gotten her to notice massive stretch marks all over her body, as if she'd had the fastest growth spurt in history. Besides that there were eight identical scars appearing in lateral pairs along her body; skin that had been disturbed and tried to grow around some kind of intrusion at her shoulders, the insides of her elbows, wrists, and the backs of her ankles. More questions, she realized. She wanted to know where these marks had come from.

Dressed, groomed, she left the hospital room behind, following signs to find her way to the main lobby where she was told someone was waiting for her.

Jak was waiting for her.

The doctor was right; the more she thought about the name the more she felt she should know him, where at first she'd regarded him nothing more than a stranger in her room, witness to her coming back from the dead. Name and face were linked, and her mind was trying to find the memories.

Fruitlessly, she noted to herself as she passed the doors into the lobby. The white and cream of the hospital was starting to make her bored; she hoped the rest of Haven was more colorfully interesting.

The lobby has a little more going on; there were some paintings on the walls of landscape that would give waiting people something to look at, but it wasn't very impressive. Looking around there were a few people present, either just sitting in chairs, waiting in line to talk to the receptionist, or the lucky person who was actually talking to the receptionist. The silence was heavy, and took away any points the room might have earned for having art on the walls.

Looking at the people present, Loor was struck with uncertainty as she moved away from the door, letting it swing closed behind her. Where was the man who'd been there when she woke up? Where was Jak? Everyone looked the same when they were facing away from her, but if they'd just look up she'd remember his face. The smile he'd given her as she'd come out of stasis.

The door seemed to crash shut in the silence, and everyone looked up at her. She felt her face flush cherry, but she was able to pick him out quickly from the people sitting in chairs; he was on the other end of the large room, in a chair against the far wall. He was on his feet as soon as he saw her, though he waited for her to cross the room in embarrassment as some eyes followed her, others looking back down at their boots.

"Jak?" She quested, just to make sure. She was already embarrassed enough.

He nodded, smiling again, putting his hand on her shoulder to guide her as he turned to walk for the door out. "Loor." He returned her name as a greeting, not wasting any time in getting moving. "Everything check out okay? They wouldn't tell me anything."

She blinked, noting the enthusiasm in his voice. He was really happy to see her up and walking, and she had no idea their status. And the doctors hadn't told him. That was cruel in the worst way. "I... I was burned." Was the first thing she managed to say as they passed the doors leading to the outside. A stiff breeze hit her that reminded her of early fall; it was crisp and refreshing.

He nodded, the smile on his face faltering a little. "Yeah, I couldn't tell them about that, but-"

"No, not on the outside. In my head." She sighed, shaking her head and stopping. She didn't even look to the street they'd just stepped out onto; she could pay attention to that later. He was excited, happy; like he'd just gotten someone who was very important to him back. Part of her wanted to play a long, but it was a little white lie that would blow up in her face the second anything in the past was referenced. "Jak, my brain was damaged. I only know your name because they told me it."

He stopped, looking back at her without correcting his course. His body still faced out to the street, the intention to cross it leaving his posture as he blinked at her. "What do you mean?" He asked, his expression changing. Surprise came first, but shock would be quick to follow. "Lauren..."

She winced. The interpretation of the emotion in his voice was painful; there was a relationship here that she couldn't recall, and it was painful to be honest about the situation. She was about to hurt him, and she didn't want to.

But she had to tell the truth.

"I don't remember anything, Jak. I don't know who I am, and I don't know who you are. I can see that you know me though, and I've been told we went through a lot together..." She felt her eyes trying to escape away from the look on his face. The shock was setting in and she was sure it would change once more before she stopped talking. "I'll follow wherever you want to take me, and I'll tell you what they told me, and you can tell me... about myself, I guess."

Brows that had risen high in shock now drew down. She feared anger at first, but his expression simply hardened and became difficult to get anything out of. "Hate doctors... they shouldn't have made you tell me."

"I get the feeling that it's really busy in there."

"Yeah." He agreed, nodding. "Most of those people in there are waiting for news on loved ones. There's a lot of trouble in the city. One of the reasons I was looking forward to having you back; you've been one of my partners for a while, and things are getting messy." He shook his head, taking his hand off of her shoulder, realizing the hold was likely too familiar. "C'mon, we'll go somewhere to meet up with a couple friends and... you can explain the medical crap and I can tell you what the fuck is going on."

"Friends?" She asked as he began to step off again, following him across the street that she noted was fairly busy. "Mine too?"

"Yeah." He nodded, though his smile didn't come back. "My other partner and a lady friend of his."

* * *

><p><strong>The Author's Corner<strong>

Eek, short chapter, but oh well. We are moving along, and that is always positive! Sorry for the rant up top, feel free to ignore it. Just me... being me I guess. Loud and proud, and then later apologetic.

MEOW!

I love you all, thank you for all the reviews, favorites, and alerts. You guys make this time without my husband bearable.

-Loor


	4. Old Friends

**I don't own Jak and Daxter. **

**Vacation or War- Endgame  
><strong>**Chapter Four- Old Friends**

The hospital was in one of the most northern sections of Haven, leading to a long drive to South Town in order to meet up with Jak's friends. At first Loor had been hesitant to mount a zoomer, but after she was in the saddle her body remembered what her brain did not; kinetic memory was enough to remind her of the basic controls of the zoomer, and Jak answered her questions on the map when she asked them. Haven was a city surrounded by a huge wall to keep the unwanted out and the people inside safe, and the city was divided into sections. The section they'd started in was currently dubbed 'New Haven', an area that was being rebuilt since the metal head invasion. The hospital was across from a large building that was under construction. Jak told her it would be the head quarters for the city's new military force; known as the Freedom League, or FL.

New Haven linked into the slums, the title speaking for the section. The less fortunate lived here, and at the moment there were many who were not very fortunate. Lauren was slightly disturbed when she saw this particular section was packed with people, wandering as if they didn't know what to do. The slums led further south, into the industrial section where various manufacture plants were, control stations for the city's power, and an access tunnel into the sewers.

Finally, from there, they arrived into the southern-most section; the port. South Town. Calling it the port made Lauren wonder if the wall somehow opened out to the ocean for shipping, or even fishing, but she could see nothing that hinted to such a function, and Jak didn't know. Fishing seemed likely though; it was the only meat product the city had in excess right now. The port strip was home to many businesses along similar lines; food, drink, and guns. Half of them weren't open, but that didn't stop Lauren from looking into windows and seeing what once was.

Jak led her to an establishment that had the most central location along the strip; an obviously choice spot with an excellent sign. It was a huge animatronic of a creature Lauren was quite sure was called an ottsel, bright orange and yellow with a huge grin. The devil horns were clearly added, and it was holding a triton with one hand, making the rock-on sign with the other, the head slowly bobbing up and down to a song no one else could hear.

Reading the bottom of the sign gave Lauren the name of the place. "The Naughty Ottsel?"

"Yeah." Jak shook his head, as if he also found this pretty ridiculous. "My partner owns the place. He's a good guy... little obnoxious though. Be nice. We're kinda like brothers so I let him get away with a lot of crap."

She shrugged, following his lead as he dismounted his zoomer and led the way inside. The door was automatic, and since it was daylight hours the place inside was pretty quiet. It was a simple enough joint, with booths built into the walls and a bar up front, a large mirror behind with selves of drink on display. The place was decorated with portraits of scantily clad women and ottsels posing with large guns, as well as large game trophies. Lauren noticed that they were all the same ottsel in the pictures, and felt as if she had a name on the tip of her tongue.

"Loor! Baby! Nice to see you walking!"

Blinking she looked down from the décor to note that there was only one person and an ottsel where she was expecting two people. Still, that didn't strike her as strange. At once she knew the ottsel was Jak's other partner, though the woman scratching the animal would have made more sense normally. "Uh... sure?" She wasn't sure how to say what needed to be said without being incredibly blunt. The woman behind the counter, blond and busty, also looked happy to see her.

"It's not as good as they made it sound, Dax." Jak sighed, his tone tense and upset. He led the way in, standing near the bar with his arms crossed over his chest. His eyes went back to Loor, the look bidding her to step over as well.

"What's up?" The ottsel shook off the woman's hand, sitting on his haunches and looking over to Loor as she made her way to the bar. She didn't sit either, feeling awkward, like she was in the spotlight. "You look okay."

"I... Uh..." She felt herself starting to flush. For a moment the words escaped her, rubbing her arm.

"Just say what the doctor told you." Jak encouraged.

She nodded, taking a deep breath before doing her level best to explain everything. Her brain had somehow been burned, and the connections in her brain had been damaged. Her memories still existed, but the paths were gone. She had no idea who she was, what she'd done in life, where she'd come from, or who anyone in this room was. She was already starting to rediscover some things, though, and with those little discoveries she might get some of her memories back. It would take time, and exposure, but new memories and paths were forming just fine.

And, aside from that, she was physically okay.

The woman was the first to speak, the look on her face shocked and concerned. "Loor, that's... that's horrible! I mean, things were just looking up for you too! And now the mess the city is getting into now..."

"It is what it is." She answered, shaking her head. "More annoying than anything."

"At least you still sound like yourself." The ottsel was grinning. "Anyway, I guess we're all strangers, so I'll go for introductions. You've met Jak, I'm Daxter, and that's Tess. We're all friends; we all worked together in the underground movement to stop the Baron and save the city!"

"Can't believe that was only a month ago..." Tess muttered, shaking her head.

"And things are starting to get ugly again." Jak pointed out, frowning.

"Tell me more about that." Lauren said; her voice sounded like she was giving an order. "You say it like we should be doing something, and I got the feeling in the hospital that our places in the underground added the expectation that we take part in military operations of protecting the city from its current trouble."

"Jeez!" Daxter snapped a look to Loor. "Okay, I'm used to you sounding technical and using big words, but that was straight up robotic! Loosen up a little, sweetie."

"Daxie, she's just out of the hospital and doesn't remember a thing!" Tess scolded. "I'd be demanding information too." She then looked to Lauren. "There's two troubles going on right now... or better put, two kinds of trouble. You heard about the two forces that we fought against in the underground, right?"

"Krimzon Guard and the metal heads." Loor nodded. "The Baron as killed, so his army should have fallen apart or become part of the new force... and the way metal heads are talked about I assume it's like any hive insect; kill the queen and the hive falls apart."

"That was the idea, yeah." Tess agreed.

"But the metal heads are still appearing outside of the walls." Jak threw in when Tess hesitated to go on. "Metal bugs, smaller versions, have been getting into the city and infesting buildings, crops, infrastructure, and otherwise. Usually it's just a pain in the neck to get rid of them, but they keep coming back. Worse, larger metal heads seem to be growing in numbers when their population should be shrinking."

"And the KG still has a lot of loyal agents; people who felt what the Baron was doing was right, or at least liked how they were allowed to act during his rule." Daxter threw in. "They've been starting riots, holding up construction at the new FL place, and trying to lock people out of the industrial section. It's a bitch for business, too. If I refuse the KG boys they'll stand at the entrance and make sure no-one can get in all night, but if I let 'em in they'll start fights with the FL guys."

Loor remembered the closed shops along the strip. Forced boycotts could do a lot to place.

"The whole thing has been making regular people nervous." Tess added in. "Some are saying the war isn't over yet, or that another one is about to begin. Those rumors spread fast, and it's got everyone on edge... Ashelin is doing what she can to contain the panic, but things aren't going to calm down until the metal head are gone and the KG has either been shut down or forced out."

"Ashelin?"

"The Baron's daughter, took over when he died." Jak answered. "She helped us overthrow him; she's on our side."

"The council isn't though." Daxter snorted. "They liked the power the Baron put in their hands too. Ashelin is trying to take it out of their hands and put more of it in the people's control, but they're opposing her on pretty much every front."

"Yuk..." Loor groused, shaking her head. "So... we've got a lame-duck Baroness, a military rebellion, and a possible new incursion of metal heads? I get the feeling that the last thing we should be doing is standing around talking about it."

"Jak's waiting on new orders." Tess pointed out. "Torn's been letting him off easy with sorties that take less than a day so he'd be able to visit you in the hospital. Now that you're up and moving, we can get back to business."

"About that..." Jak looked like going and talking to this Torn person was the last thing he wanted to do today. "Jeez he's not gonna be happy about all this."

"Ah, King Laryngitis won't even care." Daxter was lying back down on the counter, and Tess's hand went right back to scratching him. "As long as she can still effectively kill some metal heads, you won't even have to mention this extra goop to him."

Eyes turned to Lauren, and Tess asked, "Can you? Do you remember how to fight?"

She fidgeted again, unsure of what to say with everyone's attention on her. "I... well, I remembered how to drive pretty quick. Other skills should also be intact. Just gimme a gun, I guess."

* * *

><p>It took some time, but eventually she was given a gun. After visiting with Daxter and Tess, Jak led her to the center of the city; the grand palace that the Baron had built for himself. Ashelin had since taken it over, and it was serving several purposes at the moment, most of them military. Staterooms reserved for dignitaries had been converted into apartments for active soldiers who didn't have homes to go to, kitchens into galleys, large and empty spaces converted into briefing rooms, or arms storage. Every inch of space that had once been lavishly decorated had been ripped apart and put to use.<p>

Jak led the way inside and went straight for an elevator, glancing back to make sure she was keeping up. He looked like he belonged there, and she felt like a little kid tagging along with someone much older than her. She could feel the eyes of several people, all of them wearing some kind of armor and at least two weapons, noting her lack of both.

The elevator doors couldn't close fast enough.

The upper floors were all about command areas, she learned. A large and ornate room that may have once been a grand hall for the Baron's throne was now filled with equipment for gathering intel. There was a hum as several people, both men and women, operated computers while talking on some kind of a communicator or another, either listening patiently or barking orders while scrolling through information and looking for something useful. There were a few extras, running from station to station to relay information or move papers, one of them heading for the elevator with an arm-full of files.

Again Jak was in the lead, looking like he knew exactly where he was going and ignoring everyone in the room. And again, Loor got the distinct sense that she really didn't belong here, focusing on the floor for fear of catching the eye of some military superior who would throw her out.

At the end of the long room, a man and a woman stood who Loor learned to be Torn and Ashelin. They'd been locked in discussion, but it broke long enough to take noticed of Jak and Loor. Both adults treated her with respect, Ashelin welcoming her back to the fight and lamenting the report they'd already received from the hospital. Again, her battle skills were questioned, and the fact made obvious that no one would actually know until they gave her a gun and let her try. Torn seemed to find it mildly entertaining that she asked for a gun, and suggested she find a melee weapon as well.

Jak was given the responsibility of looking after her at the moment; he'd evaluate her combat skills and then report back. Torn handed over some kind of key-card for the armory and sent the two of them on their way, resuming his discussion with Ashelin before they'd even turned to walk away.

The armory proper was in the basement; a large and cavernous space guarded both by two people and a door requiring the key-card Torn had given over to Jak, which he immediately had to hand over to one of the guards after use. The doors opened, and the two teenagers entered.

Lauren wasn't sure what she thought she was ready for... but this wasn't it. The sheer size of the room boggled her first, as did the racks that split it up that were loaded heavy with weaponry. It was tough for her to imagine any military force allowing their people to have access to such a diverse selection of arms; she felt that everything should have been uniform, depending on the mission. But who knew? Maybe things were different when you were hunting metal heads.

"Over here." Jak directed, seeming to know his way around the place. "Pistol first."

She followed, unnerved by how quiet it was. "Are we the only ones here?"

"Torn usually brings newbies down here in large groups, or gives special passes when he feels necessary, like he did for us. So yeah, we're alone. Why?"

She trotted slightly, reaching out to touch his arm. He was walking at a brisk pace, and she wanted him to slow down while she was talking to him. "What was I to you?"

He didn't just slow, he stopped, looking at her. He didn't question what she said, just staring a moment before shaking his head. "It would sound creepy if I said it the way it was... we were really close, okay?"

"I could figure that much out, the way you look at me." She let her palm slide onto his skin, closing her fingers around his arm. "... did you love me?"

He nodded slightly, the hard look he'd been keeping on his face since the hospital finally breaking apart. Sadness was clear, and his eyes went to the floor. He didn't say anything, but he didn't have to. She could read how much pain he had to be in; he thought she'd been saved but then he lost her anyway.

"I'm sorry..." She spoke softly, as if someone had died and she was comforting the person who remained.

"It's not your fault." He pointed out.

"Still my brain, I gotta take some responsibility." Her other hand came to where her first one held him, as if she meant to heft him up and straighten his depressed posture. "C'mon, I'm betting Torn wants that assessment tonight, right?"

"Knowing him, he wanted it yesterday." Jak snorted, starting to walk again as she gently tugged him. The action got him to stand up a little taller, taking a clean breath and thinking about what needed to be done. "We'll give you the weapons you had before and see how you settle in to them, alright? I think some body armor too... you didn't have it before, but there were some times you coulda used it."

"You saying I wasn't good at watching my own back?"

"Sometimes." He shrugged a little. "You were really new."

"So you were taking care of me back then, too. No wonder Torn made it sound like he'd just given you babysitting duty."

* * *

><p><strong>The Author's Corner<strong>

If anyone hasn't noticed by now, this is kinda a bit before all the shit hits the fan. Why? Because the whole of FL HQ would have taken at least a few months to build, that's why. I like things to make sense. Don't worry, I'm not gonna get bogged down here, time will pass quickly once we have Loor armed and some basic frame-work has been laid down.

Thank you to everyone who's been reviewing!

-Loor


	5. Geared Up

**I don't own Jak and Daxter. Sorry peeps. **

**Vacation or War- Endgame  
><strong>**Chapter Five- Geared Up**

"Jeez I need work..." Loor whined after her third run of the gun course along the port strip. "How the hell did I survive all the shit people said I did?"

Jak shrugged, though he had a bit of a smirk on his face. "You didn't do that bad." He reassured, though he was standing in front of the little screen that would report Loor's hit percentage for the run.

"I call lies!" She crowed, pointing her pistol at him. It was empty threat; they both knew she was out of bullets. She'd panicked at the end of the run and started firing as fast as the little semi-automatic arm would let her. "Lies and shenanigans!" She then relaxed out of the dramatic pose, putting her hands on her hips. "Seriously now, Jak. I couldn't have survived with just this, and I saw the other thing you took from the armory for me. Lemme have it already!"

It was true, he'd pulled another weapon for her before they'd left, but he was also a smart man and knew to give her the gun first. She needed to taste defeat before he handed over the weapon she was best with. Either way, she looked pretty formidable, despite her poor shooting average. He'd encouraged her towards padded clothes instead of outright armor on her body, and she'd followed that advice with a black vest that would standing up to an attempted mauling from a metal head if it had to. She'd gone for metal guards on her forearms, strapped over the green long sleeved shirt she'd left the hospital with. Her belt now supported the holster for her pistol on her right leg, and she was strapped into a pair of boots that had a metal toe-cap with a single spike.

He'd bit his lip on how those were nearly the exact boots she'd worn before, as he did with most of his comments about little things that the damage to her brain hadn't changed. Instead, while she'd been changing into the new equipment, he nabbed her second weapon and the proper holster for it.

And now, as she requested, he handed it over. At first glance it looked like a foot-and-a-half section of pipe with a rubber grip fitted around it, but the truth was exposed only moments after she'd holstered her gun and taken it into her hand.

She firmed her grip around the middle, and the weapon suddenly expanded from either end. At full extension the weapon was five feet long, plus blades that protruded another few inches from either tip. She whistled, grinning. "I think I like this one."

"Old favorite of yours, as far as I could tell." He had the holster in hand, walking over to help her get it on instead of just tossing it over. It was a system of leather straps and metal buckles that fit snugly over her vest, clipping across her chest and below her bust, securing the sheath for the weapon to her back. "Called a juice rod, for what it's worth. Squeeze it harder and it'll give whatever's touching the blades a nasty shock."

She nodded, watching as he showed her which straps her arms went through and which ones would need to be tightened to fit. He helped her shrug into it, and she handled the clips on the front. "What happens after this?" She asked, tugging on the loose straps of the holster to tighten it up. "After you tell Torn I'm battle worthy, what happens then?"

"We become partners again." He answered, hesitating only slightly. "We'll get sent to known hot-spots, or protect vital sections of the wall from possible attack. Sometimes we'll just go out to a place that's lost radio contact and figure out if it's just a technical issue or if the worst has happened, stuff like that. With the metal heads it's kinda like hunting, but you gotta remember they're hunting you back."

"Well that's the business end of shit, yeah. But I mean like living arrangements, per diem, stuff like that. The hospital just kicked me out, I'm pretty sure I don't have a penny to my name, and it would be nice to know if I've got a place to sleep tonight."

He blinked, then laughed at himself. He'd been living and breathing missions for a month, and all she wanted to know was where her pillow was. "Ashelin will set you up with one of the 'apartments' in the palace, assuming there's one free. In the meantime... I've got a couch."

She reached to her back, inspecting the leather holster with her fingers and letting her weapon compact on itself before slipping it into the sheath. She'd practice a few times before trying the gun course again with a melee weapon in her other hand, but for the moment she turned to face him.

She wasn't sure how to take his offer at first. Was he just being nice, or was he trying to keep her close for other reasons? Chances were it was probably a little bit of both. He cared for her, and he wanted her to remember. He wanted her back, and he was just trying to help by being around.

Finally, she smiled at him. "What if I wanna sleep on the floor?"

He shook his head. "You don't." Was his answer; short and without details.

"Oh God, is it a bachelor cave?" She asked with mock horror, taking a few steps back from him and practicing slipping her weapon in and out of its holster. She had to be careful not to grip it too hard as she drew it, or it would expand and ruin her ability to get it free. "You got laundry and crap all over the floor cause you don't have someone yelling at you to clean up all the time?"

"Sorta." He shook his head. "Not really. Machine parts, stains on the carpet, stuff like that... messy hobbies."

"You have time for hobbies?" She left the juice rod free when she felt comfortable drawing it, expanding it and beginning to do some basic exercises with it; twisting it in mock strike and trading it between hands while in motion, facing herself towards the empty part of the room. The movements felt natural and familiar to her, and made her want to take her boots off and go outside for some odd reason.

"I don't sleep well." He answered. "You probably won't either."

"I was okay at the hospital." She felt the need to defend herself, her tone changing from the somewhat playful one she'd been using. "What are you talking about...?"

He cursed softly from where he'd been watching her. "Too late to tell you to forget it?"

"Big time." She answered. "Now that I think of it, there's a lot of things I'm supposed to be asking you; pretty much everything the doctors wouldn't tell me about myself. What happened when the Baron arrested me, how I actually ended up in the hospital, and what kind of treatment they used to revive me. They wouldn't tell, and told me to ask you..."

He watched her link several of her warm-up motions together into a chain, twisting her weapon around for an attack, feigning and block, taking a step back while switching hands behind her back to slice the air laterally with force, and then it was in both hands as she came forward and jumped into a final downward strike. Her fingers were deft, her combat skills as good as they'd been in the past; maybe better since she wasn't so scared of everything. He looked forward to seeing her in the field.

He realized he was procrastinating on answering her questions. He didn't want to talk or think about the horrible things that had happened to her, to both of them. They were ugly memories he hadn't been forced to think about for a long while, and he wasn't eager to go back. Still, it was her right to know.

"You'll hear a voice, sometimes. It's the ugliest pieces of any person; the animal that wants to kill everything, desecrate and destroy, and threatens everything you hold dear, including your sanity. It will take your base urges, amplify them until you can't ignore them, and make you feel emotions you just don't want. Irritation becomes rage, disliking a person causes blood lust, and when you actually have positive feelings for someone..."

He trailed off. The eco in his system burned him as he spoke of all the things it caused; all the things the animal in him had put him through.

"It wants to take advantage in all the worst ways. The Baron did this to us both; took us before we even knew where we were or what we were doing and used us in his big science project. He tortured me for two years, and drugged you and left you in a tube for half a month. We survived his project; he infected us with dark eco, and we survived."

She stopped her exercises, looking at him again. The utter hate in his voice made her want to comfort him somehow, but yet again she had no idea what he was talking about. Hearing voices suggested he was off the deep end, but he appeared stable. "I... I haven't heard anything."

"She nearly died too." He sighed. "I bet she's still getting over the shock of still being alive."

"She?"

"You were always more familiar with yours; talked as if you could make peace with it, but then I saw you pay for it... a couple of times. You couldn't contain her either, like I can mine... most of the time."

"Most of the time?" She was approaching him now, tucking her weapon away and feeling the concern rise up in her. "What... what happens when you can't?"

"He gets free, and does whatever he wants as long as the eco in my system will sustain him. They both need it, but your body is different than mine. I can survive without it, but I crave it... it feels good to have it... in the worst way. And the taint is still there. You, you actually need to keep your supply up. That's how you got hospitalized; she got loose when you didn't have much of a charge left. You ran out of eco, and your body started to shut down... it was really close."

She nodded, moving on to her next question instead of dwelling on any of his answers."The taint?" She asked.

"Dark eco is poison, Lauren." He looked her in the eye, aqua hues expressing just how heavily this weighed on him. "The taint is impossible to heal. Over time we'll both get sick, and it will kill us both. I... I try not to think about it. I never learned just how long it would be, but I don't doubt it."

"So they treated me with dark eco?" She summed up. "I ran out and they revitalized me with the most dangerous substance on the planet?" She blinked a few times. "That's a bit messed up. I kinda understand why the doctors weren't comfortable talking about it."

"They don't like the fact that we exist." He growled, frowning. "They all think we're monsters, ticking time-bombs that are just waiting to rip the city apart from the inside. One of the reasons I hung so close to you was to make sure no one 'accidentally' disconnected your life support..." He looked at her, noting the fact that she'd kept a mostly skeptic expression through his explanation. "Some of the nurses talked about it." He added, trying not to look like a paranoid freak.

She nodded, slowly, weighing what he told her. She could accept what the Baron had done to her, because that would explain the secrecy of the hospital staff. If she accepted that, she had to accept that she'd somehow survived treatments with dark eco, and then that she'd been effected by it, been saved by it, and also being slowly killed by it. But she'd heard no voices, felt no urges, and had no nightmares.

Yet.

"I don't feel any of the stuff you're talking about..." When she spoke it was also slowly and carefully. She didn't want to appear as if she was blowing him off; she wasn't. She'd remember every word, and try to be ready, though she had no idea how she possibly could be. "And I'm kinda afraid to..." She paused, her eyes having fallen to the floor and her boots. "This couch of yours, how big is it?"

"Eh?" The sudden subject change confused him. Seeing her face down-turned made him want to sweep back the few strands of black hair that had fallen in front of her eyes. "Why?"

"Cause if all this shit comes down at once, all this crap you're describing, I'm going to need someone to hold me until the terror goes away. This couch of yours is going to need room for two."

* * *

><p>With Loor armed and dangerous, Torn accepted Jak's report with little more than a dismissive snort and fresh orders for the next morning. As Jak expected, Torn was placing him and Loor together as partners again, and the next day they'd be sent outside the wall for a simple patrol mission; protecting an exposed power array while some workers patched up the damaged sheet metal on the outside shell.<p>

He'd been on at least six of those in the last month; it was like the metal heads somehow knew where to rip through the wall to cripple power to the city on the inside. It was impossible, but every assault on the wall had resulted in some kind of damage to the city's infrastructure.

Jak was more than a little disturbed by those reports, but he tried to write it off as little more than military officials expecting the worst of every situation so people take things seriously.

Tried being the operative word.

Loor had waited next to the elevator this time, feeling a little more comfortable but still a little intimidated by Torn. She didn't want to get closer than she had to. "So where's home?" She asked as he came back.

"You tired or something?" He asked, giving her a look. "Not even going to ask about orders?"

"You'll tell me what I need to know." She shrugged as they both went back into the elevator and Jak pressed the button for the floor he wanted. "And yeah, I am pretty tired. And hungry, now that I think of it. Please tell me you have food."

"I've got... stuff." He shrugged. "Ashelin let me have one of the converted apartments here in the palace. Nice cause home is never far after reporting back, not so nice cause they know where to find me for a midnight drill. I'd go somewhere else, but there's a bit of a housing crisis in the city... you saw how flooded the slums were."

"Yeah, why was that?"

"A lot of people were stuck in the Baron's prison. Ashelin released everyone who wasn't in there for just cause... but a lot of people were arrested because they were already poor and homeless and the Baron needed more canon fodder for his science department. Add on New Haven getting all-around refurbished and there isn't enough space to go around."

The elevator had arrived at the selected floor and popped open. The hallway they stepped out into was beautifully decorated, the doors labeled with a much less plush method; someone had burnt rather sloppy numbers into the polished wood. The smell of recent construction hit Loor's nose, and she sneezed.

"Bothers you too, huh?" He took the lead to the fifth door on the left side, swiping a key-card through a reader on the wall next to the door. "No one else on this floor seems to notice it besides me and Daxter."

"When did they finish the place?" She asked, feeling her eyes going slightly crossed as her body threatened to expel another sneeze. The scent of dust was making her itch.

"This floor was done first, but they're still working on floors below."

Two more sneezes rocked her as she went through his now open door, looking forward to getting out of her equipment; her body was tired, stiff, and sore. Like her first night at the hospital, she felt like she was in for a long night of deep and quiet sleep. That is, assuming her nose would stop itching. "Ventilation is probably blowing it up here..." She sniffed, wiping her nose to try and dispel the itchy feeling.

"You'll get used to it." He assured, shutting the door and passing her into the apartment.

The only hint that this place was the leftovers from a lavish stateroom was the carpet; it was a rich color of red with designs of gold and navy blue. Even in her boots, Loor knew it had to be soft and very kind to tired feet. The rest of the place was evidence of rushed building; walls that lacked either paint or paper, switches and outlets not even sealed and the occasional wire needing to be tucked back into its nook.

Thankfully, Jak's aforementioned messy hobbies did the job of bringing the carpet down a few notches to make the place look a bit more in order. Several pieces of some kind of machine lay strewn on the floor, along with tools that were mostly gathered around the box they belonged in but hadn't quite seemed to make it back to their proper place. Dark stains of what she assumed to be machine oil blackened the carpet, giving her no qualms about keeping her boots on as she entered further in and glanced around the main room.

It was trying hard to be a living room. There was even and couch and a TV screen to complete the picture, but the TV was both faced into the corner and not plugged in, and the couch was clear on the other side of the room, leaving maximum floor space to the unidentified machine parts on the floor. The light was in the ceiling; the only fixture that appeared to be properly finished and sealed.

Following after Jak, she found the room beyond to have the carpet ripped out and replaced with the most basic of wood, along with the ultimate basics for a kitchen. No table had been bothered with, and the counters were of a poor quality. Laminated imitation-wood at best. More rushed construction. And cheap. Ashelin seemed to have cut every financial corner with this one.

She found Jak in the fridge, though even he looked unimpressed, and this was his house. Peeking over his shoulder, she had to blink a couple of times.

"Do you cook?" She asked slowly, eying another spectacle of 'bare basics.' Without reading labels she could identify processed meat, some lettuce-like vegetable that should have been in the crisper but was instead turning brown on the shelf, and what she hoped was a carton of eggs.

"They feed me down stairs in the morning..." He defended the answer he didn't have to give.

"They pay us, right?" Was her next question.

"Yeah... why?"

"I'm not standing for this. I don't care what I don't remember, fresh home cooked meals are better than what any galley-chef can give you. First paycheck is stocking this fridge, and I'm cooking."

* * *

><p><strong>The Author's Corner<strong>

I think this chapter turned out fluffy... I didn't mean it to happen, but fuck it happened.

And yeah, I do see Jak as being that guy who has next to nothing in his fridge. Ever. Left on his own, anyway. XD I'm sure like any hero he can put away plenty when it's available.

MEOW!

-Loor


	6. Shock Waves

**I do not own Jak and Daxter.**

**Vacation or War- Endgame  
><strong>**Chapter Six- Shock Waves**

The mission that had been given to Jak for himself and Loor to go on was simple, and one of many they would get in the coming months. For this it was boring and routine, since Jak had been on missions like it several times during the past month while Loor was in the hospital.

Loor was along this time though, thus making this particular instance new. Things started simple enough; morning came and both young soldiers made their way to the lower level of the palace where the large empty halls were being put to use as a giant galley, taking part in a free meal as quickly as possible before moving on to one of the many air-lock type doors leading out of the city.

Today in particular had them in the New Haven zone, waiting on the huge mechanism that kept the portal in the wall safely locked when people weren't heading out. While waiting on the door, Jak told her where they were going and why they were both armed and dangerous.

"You heard from the others that there's still plenty of metal head activity outside the walls, right?" He asked her; it was not the first simple question he'd asked that morning. She tried not to be irritated by it, by she could tell he was trying to quietly gauge how well new memories were forming for her. He was worried about her brain, possibly more than she was.

"Yeah, despite the fact that they're supposed to be falling apart." She answered, her tone expressing her annoyance at being interrogated instead of simply informed. "So this is an extermination run?"

"Sorta." He answered, his face unapologetic. Just like that wasn't the first time he'd asked her a simple question that really didn't need to be asked, it also wasn't the first time her voice had grown strained with her temper. "Group of workers was repairing a section of the wall, and they're all done now. They've sealed themselves inside the machine room near where they were working; we kill all the nasties on the way out to them, and keep anything from creeping up on them on the way back."

"Sounds easy." She said with a slight smile, the door finally cracking open and letting them into the room that existed inside the wall, one heavy door shutting as the next one began to unlock and open.

"So long as you don't let yourself get snuck up on." He agreed, drawing out his weapon. It was a gun that she'd noticed could take many shapes, all he had to do was twist it the right way. It fascinated her, but not enough to ask to try it. Instead, she followed his lead and drew out her own effects. By the time the second door opened she had her juice rod in hand and her pistol loose, ready for a quick grab-and-fire.

Outside the door, a small base-camp had been set up. Several others like herself and Jak were either milling around, shouting at each other, or jogging off into the roughage. None of them wore the regular uniform of the Freedom League, instead dressed in what looked like whatever their everyday clothes were with some weapons strapped on top. In other words, she and Jak fit right in.

Jak took the lead to go for the only guy who was standing still; he wore plain clothes like the others, but he had tattoos that Loor somehow knew denoted military status. Words were exchanged, the man with tattoos looking over at Loor and making a face that was unpleasant. Clearly, he wasn't impressed. Still, it was only moments more before she and Jak were off, turning away from the hub of activity to march along the wall, heading south.

Inside the wall, Loor hadn't realized just how huge it was. It was obscured by buildings, roads, people, and all else that made up a city and distracted her eyes. Out here there was the sheer face of plated metal to one side and marshy woodland to the other, making it an almost unnerving experience to be trotting right next to it. It was like walking under a cliff face, unaware of when a rock slide or something might occur.

Nervous, she turned her eyes out to the wood they were beginning to enter. To the north were mountains, but heading south they were moving into heavy tree-cover. At first this comforted her, till she was reminded that there could be metal heads in wait, hunting for anything they could lay claws into.

"Hey." She spoke suddenly, sounding surprised with herself. "I remember different kinds of metal heads."

He glanced back, surprised she'd spoken in the silence of the morning. "Eh...? Yeah, there's lots of different kinds. We've seen a lot of the grunts out here; simple and mindless, but they like to travel in groups."

"Not a lot of natural armor, though." She said, eager to show off what her mind had retained, despite the damage, after the way he'd been questioning her _all_ morning. "And they like to run on their hind legs, putting themselves off-balance. Leaves the chest and neck wide open."

He gave her a look that asked if she was quite finished being a know-it-all. There was a brief staring-contest before he broke, sighing. "I'm not going to apologize for caring."

"I never asked you to." She answered with a smug smile, trotting a little to walk at his side. "So how far down is this place we're going?"

"Hour on foot, give or take." He shrugged. "Depends on what we run into on the way."

"When should we start worrying?" She suddenly lowered her voice, realizing the fact that she spoke loudly and could easily be attracting unwanted attention.

"I think the better question is when should we stop."

"And when is that?"

"Never."

* * *

><p>The attack came suddenly and without warning.<p>

By Jak's estimate they'd been half-way to their destination, and not seen a single metal head thus far. It seemed like this particular run was going to be more boring than usual when at least six metal heads suddenly dropped out of the trees above, claws first. He hadn't taken the time to count, leaping forward and rolling, turning back to discharge his blaster several times once he'd noted that Loor wasn't in the way.

Loor, like Jak, had leapt out of the way when the metal heads dropped in. Unlike Jak, she'd gone backwards while he'd rolled forward on his shoulders, darting off to the side so she wouldn't be part of the firing range when he opened up on them. In doing so, she found that the group that had nearly dropped on top of them were not the only monsters in the force.

Her pistol was in hand before she could think, firing at another two that were charging through the foliage towards her. They were small; little metal heads with long claws. Swipers, her mind remembered as her body twisted around, juice rod thrusting out to keep a grunt from pouncing on her from behind, her pistol finishing the kill before tossing it off to the side. There were even more, she knew. She could hear them crashing through, and put her gun away to put both hands on her stave-like weapon, crouching down and listening to whatever sound was the loudest.

Whatever metal head was the closest.

Blue reptilian skin flashed between green leaves as a twig snapped, alerting her and leading her to run and jump through a bush, her weapon getting to the monster that was still crouched down and about to launch at her before her own feet hit the ground. The kill was clean, her blade landing just behind the skull gem and severing the spine, allowing her to quickly lift it free and turn to her right, ducking under another incoming monster.

She struck as she rose out of her crouch, but she could hear others. How many were there? She could engage them one at a time, but how long would it be before she was overwhelmed? This ambush was frighteningly well organized, each and every one of her enemies coming at her quickly, one right after the other. Soon enough she'd be attacked from two different directions. How would she defend?

She let out a short scream, not of pain or fear, simply noise, as she whipped around and caught a swiper on her weapon. The blade sunk into it's chest, simply wounding it and making it roar at her. She threw her weight to knock it down and to the side, and then yanked back to try and remove her blade and twist around for the killing strike when her blade found itself quite stuck in the animal's ribcage.

And it's talons were still free, trying to grab onto her leg form it's position on the leaf littered ground.

She snarled at it, jumping out of it's grasp and using the stave to pole-vault over it, feeling it suddenly break through the beast's ribcage and jolt down, probably into it's heart, as the metal head screamed again and stopped thrashing.

Finally freeing her juice rod, Loor had hardly a moment before there was another group heading for her. She heard them first, her heart hammering in her chest. Her brain had long shut off, and she felt strange pins and needles all over her body... like she was statically charged, she felt all of the hair on her body standing straight up, just waiting for her to touch something to release the shock.

Something wanted release. Tingling spread over her skin where she'd later note droplets of metal head blood had gotten on her, first showing up as purple but fading out into red as she adsorbed eco energy from the spots of gore. She bent as he listened to this new group of creatures coming for her. They sounded bigger, slower, and heavy. She thought herself rather like an animal as she moved both towards the sound but also off to the side, quietly removing herself from their projected path.

Another three, tromping through the woods. She knew them as juice goons; metal heads that walked on two legs and used charged weapons. It would be unwise of her to dive right in. She had a gun, she could just pick them off at a distance and not put herself in harm's way; those weapons could easily do a number on her.

Sadly, her brain wasn't working enough to realize that.

She leapt out, slashing the throat of the nearest goon and feeling warm blood spray out onto her face. It should have disturbed her, and maybe it did. She felt like she'd missed a beat as it hit her skin, a charge passing up her spine. But, at the same time, she knew she was still moving. She must have gone for the next one, wounded it somehow, because she felt another fresh spray on her hands, another delicious run of energy going through her body.

She had to still be moving, she could feel all this energy. It was painful, but wonderful. It made her feel powerful, unbeatable, like it was making her stronger, making her move faster. She'd already felt like an animal, but when she was aware of her mouth opening again it wasn't a scream she loosed.

It was a roar.

The noise hurt her ears, and she covered them. Oblivious to the danger that was all around her, she closed her eyes and covered her ears, curling up into a little ball to protect herself from the noise that she'd loosed from her own lips. The pain wasn't just in her ears though; it spread into her head, her down her back and into her limbs, back through her body and up through her heart, into her lungs, and out of her throat.

She was still bellowing, but the sound of her voice wasn't as violent as what had hurt her before. No, now she yelled for the pain with her own voice.

Her eyes sprang open, and she found herself disoriented. She was aware that she was trying to see, but there was darkness all around her. How could this possibly be? She'd just been outside, fighting metal heads, fighting for her life. She'd been screaming, and she'd felt so reckless, so unstoppable.

Then everything hurt. She'd been wrenched at, yanked away from her senses, and now she lay on her back in darkness. In silence. There was nothing to stimulate her senses here besides the sound of her own breathing. The darkness made her dizzy as she tried to stand, beginning to panic and taking mental stock. Had her mind short-circuited? She was in intense danger if that was the case; the metal heads would tear her apart.

She then shook her head, though she couldn't even feel the movement in this place. It was more that she actively dismissed the thought, seeking another explanation. If her mind had somehow failed her, she wouldn't be aware of herself at all. This darkness would exist, and she simply would not.

Moments passed, and the deprivation of sensation made her heart throb painfully in her chest, fearful that some sort of damage _had_ occurred. The darkness frightened her, as did the fact that there was nothing in this place, not even a floor. She'd had sense of one at first, but after standing it vanished, and she was simply floating; a suspended conscious in a deprivation tank.

Her fear spiked as a muddled memory came through; being dissolved by the darkness, losing herself to it. Monsters born of it, coming to destroy what was left of her while she slept. She screamed, rejecting the thought with horror, desperately trying to realize her senses. She still had a body, didn't she?

_Didn't she? _

It was with a gasp that she found herself with sudden and solid footing, tripping backwards and falling down. She panted, her gaze wide as she stared up, her eyes finally greeted by shapes and color. She was in a room now, though it was incomplete; it lacked a ceiling. Instead walls of deep violet reached up, vanishing into the void. She began to focus on things closer in, glancing back and forth to see she was in a round room with vivid green carpet, decorated with pillows and blankets of all shapes and pleasing textures. They were all over the place; piled against the walls, laying out on the floor, and in a pile under her, she realized as she sat up and looked. They were all a mixture of either green and trimmed in purple, or purple and trimmed in green. Dark and polished hardwood circled the room as a loft, some feet up and outside of her reach unless she jumped for it, where more bedding spilled off.

Her heart slowed here; she felt safe. This was familiar to her; she knew this place was in her mind. A place she went whenever she was sleeping but not resting, or awake but zoning out. Where she spoke with...

With someone. Another person, in her head.

_Am I crazy? _She quested unto herself, standing up slowly and looking at herself. She was greeted by a change of clothes; dressed in a green robe, hemmed and tied in violet. _I don't feel crazy... _

_**You did... **_

A melodic giggle seemed to come from the walls, making Loor jerk her head up and spin in a tight circle, trying to spot the source. "Who's there?" She shouted.

_**Don't talk like that... speak in your head, like we always do. I don't understand your language, but I understand your thoughts. **_

"We...?" Loor shook her head, feeling like the walls were beginning to press in on her. She could feel something else, too. An emotion that wasn't her own. She knew her current emotions; her rampant fear and determination to be ready; to need to be able to fight back. There was something else, feeling rather entertained, and content for the moment. _Who are you? _

There was a long pause, and a black space opened in the wall before her. At first Loor was afraid that the darkness was going to rip this room, her safe place, apart. She feared it coming in, and began searching for something she could do about it. Still, as her wild glances went around the room, she noted a shape was entering in through the black space.

And, as it came in, she felt incredibly dizzy. Her head spun, pain blooming right between her eyes that was intense enough to get her to cry out, falling back into the pile of bedding she'd clambered out of.

_**I will introduce myself to you later, dearest. **_The voice spoke softly, but the tone was far from comforting. **_You have more to do out there... much more to do. _**

The pain stabbed again, making her head throb as she tried to look at the shape that had come in. Sadly, her vision was leaving her. Black splotches took away the colors of the room, soon leaving her with nothing but the sound of her own whimpering.

_**Welcome back, Loor. **_

* * *

><p><strong>The Author's Corner<strong>

Holy shit I'm sorry that took forever! Anyway, hi everyone!

Kehehehe... and Lyra returns to the story. Are we all happy about that? I am.

If you're wondering why the update took so long, there are a fair amount of reasons. The biggest one being that I have a webcomic now; it's called Cohime and it's hosted on Drunk Duck. Do me a favor and check it out! Leave a few comments, maybe? It actually updates on a regular schedule...

Happy reading!

-Loor


	7. Dark Secrets

**I do not own Jak and Daxter.**

**Vacation or War- Endgame  
><strong>**Chapter Seven- Dark Secrets**

When Loor came around, she was seated against a tree. Her weapons had been laid in her lap, and Jak was crouched nearby; half looking at her, half keeping a look-out for possible attack, his own weapon still in his hands. She blinked a few times, the daylight hurting her eyes and causing the pain in her head to turn sharp as well as throbbing. "_Ugh... _good _Christ..._" She groaned while applying a hand to her brow. Her body hurt; aches spreading along almost all of her muscles, like she'd overdone it in sudden and explosive activity.

He looked to her at once, the look on his face serious. If he was happy that she was still alive, he wasn't showing it. Instead, he almost looked upset, but not with her. Nothing on his face suggested that she'd done something wrong. No, he looked guilty.

"You alright?" He asked softly, his eyes still scanning around. "We got ambushed... took care of them, but there could be more."

She nodded a little, wincing as the throb in her head began to fade. "I'm fine... I think... what _happened?" _

"You changed." He said simply, not adding details. To him, that seemed to be all the explanation that was needed, but she didn't understand it.

"Changed?" She questioned, wrapping her sore fingers around her weapons and getting up. She holstered the stave but kept the gun out, still squinting against the light. Stretching towards the sky she hissed against the various pains of her body, also noting that her pants had somehow gotten forced down a little in the back. Quickly, she pulled the waistband back up, looking at Jak as he got up from where he'd been keeping watch over her. "I... I don't think I understand. Jak, something happened... I blacked out, and the metal heads... their blood..."

"The eco in it made you go berserk." His voice was rough. "I... I figured you'd remember it, or recognize it." He had turned away from her by now, starting to move through the trees once more to continue on their mission, looking determined to end the conversation.

"But-!" She shook her head, almost hard enough to bring her headache back, reaching out for him and getting his elbow. Perhaps he hadn't noticed, but she'd had some kind of mental episode and was scared out of her mind. She stared at him with her mouth left slightly open, getting the creeping feeling that she'd done something in the time that she'd been forced into her head. "Jak, what's going on here? I... I lost it while fighting a couple of them... did I get hit? Why am I not hurt? They... they should have ripped me apart."

"_You_ ripped _them _apart." He asserted, glaring at her. "Maybe I didn't explain it very well... I told you yesterday; the thing in your head-"

"The voice!" She cut him off, her empty hand coming back to her brow. "It... what was it? It... it seemed to know me. Jak, what's happening to me?"

He glanced around as she was practically yelling, putting a finger up to 'shush' her and coming back to corner her against the same tree she'd recently gotten up from. "I tried to explain it to you yesterday... it's part of you... when you take on enough eco it can just take over, more easily if you're not ready to fight it back. It... yours tends to co-operate with you more often than mine does, but they'll do anything to get free."

She stood there, her back pressed against the trunk of the tree she'd been resting on, staring with wide eyes at the intense look on his face. She was too scared, too focused on herself, to try and interpret it further than she already had. "Am..." She swallowed, breathing harshly through her nose. "Am I insane?"

He didn't hesitate on the answer. "We both are."

* * *

><p>The rest of the mission went by fairly quietly. Loor had long gone silent, and only a few extra metal heads were found on the way out. They arrived at their destination, founded the group of technicians, and made their way back without incident. They reported to the guy at base-camp, and then re-entered the city through the security gate.<p>

Despite it only being late afternoon, Loor felt quite exhausted. She could have blamed many things, including all the thoughts crashing through her mind, but another explanation was both possible and plausible, and made her worry about herself all the more. Jak hadn't looked at her since she'd questioned him in the woods, so she'd been left to her own thoughts and pondering questions.

The more she thought about it, the more frightened she became. Her memory was a massive black hole, but she had known that figure in her head. It was a creature to which she could attach a great deal of fear and apprehension. She didn't trust it, felt an obsessive reflex to figure out exactly what it was. She wanted to study it, despite being terrified. She wanted, no, _needed_ to know what it was.

She glanced up at Jak; she'd been following him through the city, and he hadn't bothered to say where they were going in the dimming light. He still seemed pretty charged up, but she moved to catch up with him and get his attention by lightly touching his arm, as she had a few times before.

He looked, a brief glance, before locking his eyes forward again. "I'm sorry."

"Why?" She asked, keeping close to him as they entered the pedestrian traffic of New Haven streets.

"I don't talk much." He sighed, his lips making a tight frown that was almost like a grimace. "I'm not good with words... I couldn't... _can't_ explain it well enough to you, even though I'm the same as you... If I was better at it, maybe you wouldn't..." He sighed. "You might have been ready for it, y'know? I didn't prepare you."

"You tried." She pointed out, still shaken from her own episode. "I... I still don't really get it, but you did try."

He looked at her, his expression tightening further. "She's awake again... you'll start having nightmares soon, too, I bet." His eyes lamented her coming misery.

Her jaw tightened slightly, aware that her coming days were only going to get more difficult. "I still don't... you said I changed, but... what do you mean by that? Why did my body hurt so much after? My head? My eyes? I'd feel better if I just knew what I was dealing with. I hate the unknown."

He went quiet for a while, the two of them weaving around people to slowly pass from New Haven into the slums. There was no point in getting a zoomer; he didn't actually have a destination at the moment.

"... I could show you... but that might scare you more."

"Who said I was scared?" She defied at first, growling a little before he gave her a look. He had some ability to read her as well. "Okay, yeah... I'm a bit freaked out, but that's my problem. I'm lost, and that frightens me. I just need someone to explain to me what's going on... if you can show me rather than tell me, fine. Show me."

"Are you sure?" He asked seriously. "I... I can show you what happened to you, but-"

"I need to know." She insisted, her resolve steeling her against any fear that tried to worm its way into her mind and make her feel unsure. "I _have_ to know."

He nodded a little bit, though discomfort showed on his face. She watched carefully, almost more worried for him than she was for herself. She had to re-learn all the worst parts of her life, but she was also reminding him of what made them different than everyone else. Still, the fact was that she needed to know everything she could. It was her mind she was dealing with, and she had to have every piece of information she could get.

It didn't matter if it was scary or weird, terrifying or fantastic; she had to know.

He began to move faster, finding a zoomer and having her get on behind him instead of sending her to find her own vehicle. Now that he'd decided to show her, it seemed he wanted to just get it over with. Once again he went completely silent, speeding through city sections until they arrived in agriculture; streets and buildings faded away for grass and crops to rise up. Said crops were huge; Loor had to stare at some of the plants they sped by, noting the size of them and feeling that they were simply too huge to exist.

At early fall, most of these crops were in the process of being harvested. Loor saw some fields that were half-barren; one day's work done and the rest left for tomorrow as the sun made its way down. She wondered just how one moved such gigantic crops, but then mentally shrugged. This was a city full of machines; they surely had some sort of mechanical help.

Passing by several farms and a few animal enclosures, she still didn't see enough that would feed a city of this size. She had to assume by now that the city's food supplies were supplemented by fishing, but these farms simply didn't look big enough. Perhaps that explained the need for oversized crops, but she felt like she was learning another reason for the city's unrest; given long enough and everyone was either going to be on rations or starving. All it took was an infestation of bugs or a run of bad whether, and these crops would fail and leave the city without strength.

"Why did we seal ourselves in like this?" She spoke softly. "We're like fish in a leaky barrel..."

"You know about as well as I do." He spoke as the zoomer slowed; there was a long metal ramp up to another security door. They were going outside the wall again. "I think everyone was so desperate to keep the metal heads out, they didn't think about how it would constrict the people later on."

"Isn't there anyone else out there?" They dismounted the zoomer, and she stuck close to him, looking at the walls and wondering just what kind of world was out there.

"Nothing exists outside the wall as far as I know. The metal heads took over the world; devastated everyone else. Haven's the only place that survived."

"Because of us?" She asked, remembering what the others had told her. Still, that sentence felt wrong coming out of her mouth. "O-or because of you?" She amended, the both of them starting the walk up the ramp.

"You helped." He assured, looking where she walked behind him.

"...So I was kinda a side-kick?"

He snickered as they reached the top of the ramp, waiting for the door to open. "According to Daxter, I'm the side-kick. You're my partner, someone I trust. You were pretty green when you first got out of prison, but you got better all the time, so long as you kept your head together."

"I'm getting the feeling that didn't happen very often..." She muttered, looking at her boots. "I'm guessing I scared pretty easy back then, too."

"You had a lot going on."

The door opened with a loud thump, bidding the two of them into the lock as one door shut behind them and the other began to spin its gears in order to open.

"I'm going to do better." She stated outloud, looking up and balling her fists at her sides. "I don't wanna be a burden; I won't get scared anymore."

He gave her a look, questioning how she could say that when she didn't even know what the future had in store.

"What?" She asked. "I mean... where are we even going right now, anyway? What are you going to show me?"

The door clunked open, allowing the smell of a lush forest to breeze in. He led the way out, onto a small edge of a cliff that had a warp ring on the edge. There was a chasm, and another cliff much higher in the air and quite a distance away with another ring on its edge. Loor followed, looking at the warp ring suspiciously as he went from her side to hop through it.

He vanished from one edge and went to the other, making her blink. Then, without question, she followed, taking the same hop.

Going from one edge to the other, she grabbed herself for the strange tingle that danced on her skin after the fact. Still, Jak didn't let her wait around. He was pulling on her, almost dragging her as they followed a little valley between steep faces of rock.

Soon enough, they were standing on the edge of another cliff, looking into beautiful scene of a bronze temple built into the jagged edges of the mountains, waterfalls flowing off of it and into the deep canyon below. She stared, her mouth hanging a little open, but he still didn't stop, giving her a push towards the edge of the cliff.

Floating there, without a driving force, was a little bronze platform. "What the...?" She shook her head, pushing back against him. "What are you trying to do?"

"It's okay." He assured. "We haven't even gotten to the scary stuff yet. Just... trust me, okay?"

"Why are we even out here?" She demanded, letting go of herself to back out of his grip and push away his hands. "You said you were going to show me... show me what you couldn't explain to me, what you meant when you said I changed. Why are we out here, outside the walls? Isn't it... not safe?"

He winced; as if just now realizing she wouldn't blindly trust him. Had she in the past? Not for the first time, Loor wondered what kind of person she'd been before her mind had been damaged. "I couldn't show you inside the city... and for you to just see, just to watch, he'll need something else to hunt. I'm expecting there to be metal heads out here."

"He?" She quested, looking at him critically. This time he shook his head, motioning towards the platform again instead of answering. "Okay, alright..." She sighed, stepping up to the cliff's edge again. "Fine..."

He nodded, and they both took the step onto the platform, she grabbing onto him when it suddenly began to move.

"Don't talk to me once we get down there." He spoke quickly as the platform entered the darkness of a ravine; the setting sun was already casting long shadows and left this place completely without light. "When we get off, hide and stay down. When I show you... I won't be in control. If he sees you, he'll come after you."

"You're freaking me out a little... why can't I talk to you?"

"I'll be... blocking him out so he doesn't see wherever you go to hide."

She blinked a few times, despite the fact that it was completely dark. "This is worse than a simple split personality, isn't it?"

He snickered softly as the shadows ebbed, light coming into view as they neared the end of their journey. "_Now_ you're getting it... this is actually pretty risky... are you sure-?"

"Yes." She spoke quickly. "I have to know. I won't have any secrets, not from you, not from me, and most definitely not from my damaged brain pan. Anyway, you're the one who decided you couldn't explain."

He nodded tightly, silence taking once more as the platform they stood on floated in to land. They'd arrived at a platform of rock, but it quickly gave way to a thick mat of grass and wildflowers. The platform was lit; a bronze arch stood over where the platform had landed itself, a yellow gem set in the top and acting as a beacon in the darkness. She and Jak stepped off together, and he gave her a push to go off on her own into the area beyond. As she was told, she didn't try to talk to him, turning and finding her way down the tumbled rocks that made up this particular rise in the topography.

The area beyond was serene; a forest of gigantic trees, a stunning waterfall that turned pink in the sunset's light, and a thin stream winding its way through. It was still rocky, clearly a forest that had taken root among the mountains, but it still grew thick and strong. Getting down to the more even ground, Loor moved quickly to find a suitable place where she would not been seen, but could still observe most of the area.

She noted, as she moved through the stream and decided on a large bolder on the other side, that this place was far from safe. In the growing darkness, she could see spits of yellow, glowing like the gem set into the bronze arch up above; metal head skull gems, glowing an eerie yellow. Most were near the waterfall, but there had to be at least ten of them. It made the hair on the back of her neck stand up as she sighted Jak in the twilight; he was down here too and looking at the group of monsters.

There was a brief pause before one of the creatures noticed him. It was a grunt, similar to one of the creatures Loor had fought that day, that sniffed at the air and turned to look at him, growling first in curiosity but then roaring as if it had found some kind of treat. It must have thought him some kind of stupid creature that had wandered out here alone and unprotected.

She stared as the one that had noticed him began to bound forward, the others beginning to move as well.

He didn't draw his weapon.

His body hunched over slightly, and she watched from a distance as he went tense. In a moment she knew something was happening to him that was going to be greater than a shift in personalities. A line of violet sparks seemed to run up his spine, vanishing into the bottom of his skull before exploding out from his body, burning her senses with the feel of eco.

The explosion hit the first metal head, knocking it back into two more that had been following too closely. Loor's eyes darted over to them, trying to take in the whole scene at once and failing. When she looked back to where Jak had been standing, she found nothing but empty space. Then her eyes flicked back to the group of metal heads, trying to disentangle and continue their attack, to see a monster in man's clothes.

Jak's shape had changed; his already impressive body engrossed with eco power, the sparks leaping off in arcs from his now ashen skin. Long black talons extended from fingers that ripped into metal head flesh, cracking bones and wrenching at tendons and veins, causing blood to spray in grotesque fountains. Even at a distance she could see fangs in his mouth, used to tare into another metal head on the pile before abandoning the now dead group to charge upon the others; there were still at least seven left. Black horns on his head were lowered and used to gore one, moving away at a frightening speed to plunge talons into another.

Black eyes under a silver spray of hair; Jak had become something else.

Loor stared on in shock, feeling the intense need to run away, to flee. He'd warned her that it would be frightening, but she didn't expect this. She didn't _accept_ this... had her body twisted in the same way when she blacked out? Is _this_ what the eco had done to them? She could feel her jaw hanging open, her hands leaving the rock she'd been leaning on as her feet tried to find the ground again. Her hiding place was inadequate, she felt. She needed to get further way. He'd be done with those metal heads soon, and then he'd be after her.

Her toes found ground, and she stepped away from the boulder to back away, her eyes still locked on the carnage before her. This... _thing, _whatever it was, was ruthless, mutilating the bodies once life had left them, almost literally bathing in the blood. The savagery both shocked and disgusted her, and she wondered just how long it would take him to stop.

He had to eventually stop, right? She had. She'd come to, but after how long? How long would he be like this?

How long until Jak came back, and hid this monster away again?

She'd come to the edge of the stream, not realizing it until she'd slipped on a wet stone. She slapped a hand over her mouth before a yelp could escape her, but that didn't stop her from falling into the water with a loud splash.

* * *

><p><strong>The Author's Corner<strong>

Kehehehe... I'm having so much fun right now, you people haven't a clue.

BTW, you'll note that I'm describing Haven Forest's Jak II version here. My explanation for the different forest level from Jak 3 is going to be that it's a different gate in the agricultural section, leading to a different area of the woods. Call it a cheap shot, but I'd rather rationalize the change than ignore it.

Happy reading!

-Loor


	8. Monsters

**I don't own Jak and Daxter or the concept of dark eco.**

**Vacation or War- Endgame  
><strong>**Chapter Eight- Monsters**

She didn't feel the water. She'd fallen in and under, blowing air out of her nose as she wriggled around to right herself and get her feet onto the stream bed and stand up, but she couldn't process sensation, or thoughts besides the instinctive need to get up and run.

No, she'd seen him. In that last moment before she'd gone under, she'd seen his head twist around. She'd seen those black eyes narrow as blood-stained fangs widened into a menacing grin. He knew exactly where she was, all the metal heads were dead, and all of that added up to one fact that she was rather preoccupied with.

He was coming for her.

Boots filling with water, she found the bottom and tried to stand only to slip as her first action was to run, gaining a brief and sweet gasp of air before her head went under again. He was in the water; she could hear him splashing through, louder than she was thrashing. He wasn't a creature of stealth; his bulk was focused on ferocious brute strength. Abandoning her boots seemed the smartest action, flicking the clips under the water and kicking free of them as she choose to swim with the current instead of trying to run on the bottom. Darkness greeted her glance forward as her head came to the surface once more, the water flowing into a rocky grotto that could lead her anywhere. She had no idea.

She thrust her arms forward, putting out a powerful breast stroke as she felt a spark of eco connect between her shoulders. Without looking she could picture him, talons reaching for her as he trudged through the water after her. Not that her eyes were doing her any good faced to the front; she would soon be in complete darkness as she kicked along with her efforts.

Cursing, her knee hit a rock before she'd made any sort of impressive distance. He was still behind her, close enough that she could hear him breathing, dangerous enough that she didn't even remember getting her feet up onto the rocks, her wet socks hanging on better than her boots had and bursting forward in the darkness. Her arms should have been held out to intercept walls, but instead they were at a lesser angle, adjusting as she needed to balance against the odd angles of the different stones of the stream bed.

Her shoulders took several blows as she tripped and struggled to keep moving. Air came in precious gasps as her fear-ridden mind could only think of one thing.

Survival.

Terror rose up as she heard it; a sudden roar that was so close that she felt he had to be within reaching distance. Why hadn't he struck her? He had to be so close, maddeningly close; she could feel the eco. Little sparks still struck her, but she could sense him behind her, the burning mass that sustained him, a living being of poison that she both feared and craved.

She jumped at the noise, realizing she was going down and praying her landing was wetter than the knee-deep water she'd been trying to run through.

It wasn't.

She hit hard in the darkness, screaming in response as she felt there was nothing better for her voice to do. She'd twisted in the air to land on her back, body bent to keep her head out of the water, her hands were held out in the shadows, trying to fend off what she couldn't see.

In a moment she realized a sudden burst of luck; an outstretched finger was touched by the rough bottom of a shoe.

She'd fallen just as he'd leapt at her; a fatal charge that would have trapped her under him and left her wide open to his talons. Her reprieve was short, but she took it to get up again.

Hours later, she would question what she did. At that moment, she did not.

She rolled over in the void and leapt forward without hesitation, hands open to grab whatever she could.

His body was warm, hot to her touch, even through his clothes. She landed atop him as he was in mid-turn, having landed just as roughly as she had and moving to get his face up and out of the water. One hand had clamped onto his shoulder, but she knew at once that he could lacerate her if she didn't change her hold to keep his talons away from her.

That is, if she could restrain him at all. She could feel the muscles, pulsing with blood and energy, and could easily imagine him ripping through sheet metal.

He reacted to her at once, letting off a loud snarl as he tried to twist out of her grip and change the hold. She wouldn't have it though, following him as he tried to shake her off and getting both of his wrists as he sat up out of the water, doing her damnedest to try and power his arms back into the water. He had fangs and horns for her to fear as well, but those long talons were the greatest danger.

As soon as she pushed to try and control his limbs, she realized just how futile the action was. He reacted with sudden and godly strength to her pushing, talons flying forward. She was sure he was aiming for her neck, or her eyes, or somewhere else painful and vulnerable.

She was surprised when he seized her head instead of slicing it, forcing her to look up as his thumbs had hooked under her jaw, her neck left wide open like some sort of sacrificial offering. She could feel his talons against her pulse; like the razor edges of twin blades that could easily slit her throat with a twitch of a finger. Her head between his palms, she felt his crushing strength and knew he could also crack her head on the stone, or drown her, or simply smash her skull in with the same strength he'd displayed only seconds ago.

There was so many ways he could have killed her in that moment, a moment where she stopped breathing, still trying to pull on his arms to get him off, squishing her eyes shut as they did her no service in the darkness.

Eyes that flashed back open when his head drew in; breath and fangs pressed to her neck. The pressure was rough to her, his jaw opened wide enough that if he set those teeth in he would surely rip out the veins and her trachea.

His jaw started to close as she continued to struggle, the effort fruitless as she felt her flesh give against the sharp teeth of the predator that held her helpless. And then, just as barely as they'd penetrated to allow a trickle of blood fall in drops down her skin, running a path along her collar bone and leaving bright trails of brilliant violet, his mouth was open again to release her neck, forcing her head back down to look at him. Eyes adjusted to the darkness, she could see the wicked grin on his face and the fresh stains on his teeth. Blood. Her blood.

Why hadn't he killed her? He was licking his teeth, his talons still on her skin, her body still imprisoned by his strength, and yet he still wasted seconds with a smug smile that he clearly wanted her to notice and acknowledge.

And then, just as suddenly at the transformation had taken, he collapsed onto her. She went from trying to pry him away to holding him up and out of the water, still panting through her nose but ignoring that as she drug him towards the wall of the rocky tunnel she'd been running through. At first he was deadweight, but in moments he began to recover.

He realized in an instant that something had gone wrong. "...Loor?"

Relief swept over her; Jak was back. Where there had been nothing but terror, she slipped her arms around him to pull him in for a hug. She didn't care that her arms had come around his head, and that she was now clutching his face to her breast. All she cared about was the fact that she wasn't dead, and he was back, making her feel safe again. He didn't fight her, settling in her grasp and returning the hug around her middle, the two of them sitting in the shallow water as she rocked back and forth, muttering what had transpired into his hair.

He couldn't understand a word of it, but waited until the prattle of indistinct words ceased before asking, "Are you alright?"

She sniffed, a few tears having come loose in her sudden relief. "He... he... why didn't he kill me?" She hiccuped, arms slowly loosening. "He should have, it's his nature... I remember it now, he's a ruthless animal, just like _her. _All blood, all rage, but why didn't he kill me? He just... just... p-put his fangs on my neck. Why...?"

Jak's arms had slipped out from being around her, his comforting hold discarded as he pulled his head back from her, tracing her neck with his fingers in the darkness. In moments he found the marks left behind; small pricks in her neck from the fangs that had been in both the upper and lower jaw of the creature's maw; four little holes in her skin. She hissed, as they stung when he touched them. "Dominance." He muttered. "He... sometimes he's interested in more than blood. He's been trying since he... he knew about yours. First time he actually managed it..."

She took this with grim silence, pulling him against her chest again as she continued to rock in the water. She simply wanted to be held for the moment, and he obliged her, though he was surprised with her terror.

She'd never been this scared before. He'd only seen her this distraught once; the first time she'd been forced to take human life. He figured she would take seeing his darker half much as she had before; as a simple fact that had to be filed away. The encounter had been similar back then; Dark had nearly gotten her by the time he'd come around.

Still, she had known about it already back then. She'd been armed with information that allowed her to take the situation calmly and without surprise.

Now, fear was clear as day as she still let out the occasional sob, refusing to let go of him as if he were some kind of teddy bear.

Finally, the motion stopped. She took several deep breaths and seemed to hold the tears back, and after a long period of quiet she managed to say. "Let's go home. Please."

"Are you sure?" He asked softly. "Don't rush, we're fine."

She nodded slightly, letting go and starting to stand up out of the water. "I... I want to talk back at home. It's cold here. I want a dry blanket."

He followed quickly and without argument, putting a hand on her shoulder to guide her back through the darkness, the two of them having to fish her boots out of the stream before finding their way back to the precursor platform that would return them to the warp gate and the city.

* * *

><p>The silence was tense as they returned to the makeshift apartments at the palace. Loor was well lost in her own head, her chin tucked down so people hopefully wouldn't notice the odd marks on her neck over the fact that she and Jak were both totally soaked. Her mind was twisted by the thoughts running through it, the short flashes of fuzzy memory that tried to remind her of what she should have feared, both in herself and in him.<p>

The darkness, she remembered some of it now. She remembered nightmares, sleepless nights, and the persistent emotions of another being in her head. She remembered his darker side, and how she was better off avoiding it at all costs if she wanted to stay in one piece. In all fairness, she should have been scared of him as well, the carrier of the demon.

But she wasn't. Looking at him as they took the elevator up, he looked back and offered a small and fragile smile that comforted her and made her feel safe. He shouldn't have made her feel that way, but he did.

Of course, if he was any example, he should have been just as afraid of her. Another creature lurked in her, feeding off of the eco that her body could so easily adsorb, waiting and watching for all the same opportunities for destruction that his was. They were both harboring monsters, things that should have repulsed any other human being from wanting to be in even the same room as them.

She could see, quite easily, how whatever relationship they'd had before must have been rather intense... and potentially deadly. What they held in common likely bound them, but it was also a lot like playing Russian Roulette; you never knew who was going to get hit.

Arriving at the small apartment he let her have the bathroom to get out of her wet clothes and towel off, not having anything extra for her but bringing a blanket for her to wrap up in while her things dried. He followed suit, though he had a dry pair of pants and a shirt to change into after getting all of his wet things off, coming to join her where she'd curled up into a ball on his couch.

Again, he had to ask. "Are you alright?"

"... I understand." She spoke after a long sight. "Why you couldn't explain it to me... that... If you'd just told me, I never would have believed you... what in hell was the Baron thinking?"

"He needed a weapon." He spoke with the shrug evident in his voice. He was far past the questionings of why what had been done to him was done. "They were looking for me, and you... you sorta fell into their lap."

She shook her head a little, closing her eyes in a way that seemed like she'd meant to blink but she was just too exhausted to open them again. Instead she leaned away from the corner and landed her head on his stomach. "I remembered him." She muttered. "I remember being so scared of him... but I'm not scared of you... why?"

It took him a long time to answer, taking the moments to shift a little and pull her by the shoulders so her head was settled against his chest, relaxing on the other arm-rest in hopes of making her a little more comfortable. The beige blanket he'd provided her with looked more like a constricting cocoon that a comfort device. "You were always good as seeing the separation. You saw him and I as different."

"Of course you're different. You're you, and he's..." She snorted. "And she's..." Her eyes opened a fraction. "She's waiting for me... She promised that she'd 'introduce' herself later... probably when I fall asleep..."

It was left unspoken that she'd rather stay up all night and avoid it.

"How do you live...?" She murmured, struggling to keep herself awake and her eyes aware. As much as she feared the confrontation, she couldn't struggle for long against her own exhaustion. "Knowing you're different...? That you could kill everyone if you just made one little mistake? I... it's more scary to me that I live with the monster, not that I might be killed by it. The dead will be dead, but I have to go on, knowing that I couldn't stop it... how do you deal with that?"

"I lock him out." He sighed, allowing his hands to rest on her shoulders. "Try not to think about him. Pretend I'm regular."

"You must have a very good imagination..."

She trailed off, her eyes drifting closed again.

"Do you want me to wake you if it looks like things are going badly?"

"No..." She was barely mumbling now. "I have to face her... just... please be here when I wake up."

With that, her face relaxed, and she fell into sleep.

* * *

><p><strong>The Author's Corner<strong>

MEOW!

So guys, you like my work but wish I had a more steady update schedule that you could count on? Good news! I started a webcomic. It's not fanart, it's a completely original story, but you can find it over at DrunkDuck DOT com. It's called Cohime, and as usual my username is LoorTheDarkElf. It's still pretty young and fresh, but if you'd take a look and leave a comment I'd be honored. :)

Happy reading!

-Loor


	9. Comfort

**I do not own Jak and Daxter**

**Vacation or War- Endgame  
><strong>**Chapter Nine- Comfort**

Falling was a wonderful word for it. As her eyes closed, Loor felt like she'd been enveloped in a warm cloud that was letting her drift slowly down as the world about her melted away. Jak, the blanket, the couch, and the room she'd been in were all gone. She found herself instead laid gently on a mound of pillows and blankets; she was back in her safe place within her mind.

And the monster was here. She could feel it; the animal she'd caught only a glimpse of last time was prowling about, watching her. It drove away her warm comfort and brought her to sit up quickly, looking around.

_**So alarmed... over here, love. **_

The voice seemed to come from everywhere, making her gasp when she felt it flowing through her and making her turn, as if a hand had seized her chin and forced her to look, the rest of her body following just to avoid having her neck broken.

Upon the loft that ringed the room, the beast sat. She was human in her basic form, but twisted to the point that she could never be accepted as such. Her skin was pale, almost gray with the slightest purple hue, and looked smooth as silk. She wore Loor's face, but that face had been distorted; the nasal ridge was forward, the upper jaw stretched long in a way that imitated an animal snout, allowing for a massive overbite that accommodated equally impressive fangs. Black eyes looked out under ebony locks and lashes, her hair long and wild. Ears, long like Loor's, pointed up instead of out and were thickly furred.

She was stretched upon her stomach, supported on her elbows and showing her rather womanly developments without shame. She was clothed in a violet robe, trimmed in green, but it was shrugged low on her shoulders and allowed to pool about her arms. One leg was bent under her, her hips adding to her shape and the fact that her robe seemed to be most ill-fitting, the bottom hem far too short to be anything but scandalous. Talons adorned her fingers, long blades of black shadow, as well as shorter spikes on her toes that curved dangerously. Rising up behind her, further lifting the hem of her robe, was a tail that was furred like her ears. It rose up a ways before settling over her hips for the tip to dangle over the edge, gently swaying back and forth.

This had not been what Loor was expecting. She'd seen the monster Jak contained, and imagined something horrible, something ugly and grotesque, squatting in her mind and twisting her body whenever the power was available.

This creature _was_ dangerous, but in so many different ways.

Before she could get her mind together to question the creature, she seemed to vanish. The animal had moved in an instant, disappearing from the loft and Loor's sight. She blinked, beginning to turn her head to search for the creature when the beast made her location clear.

Sudden and violent pain ripped through Loor's chest, the fire starting in her back and running her through to her stomach. Her mouth gaped to scream, but nothing came out as she felt her lungs had been seized. She arched away from the feeling, her chin falling as her eyes searched for an idea of what was happening.

She could see black tips of claws; they had ripped through her body and her robe, violating her body and taking all of her awareness.

_**It seems I have your attention. **_That voice came again, a malevolent giggle following after. **_Good. _**

Talons ripped free of feeble flesh, as did a scream from Loor's throat as she fell onto the floor. She rolled over to her side, hugging herself as she had trouble realizing anything besides the holes in her body. There was nothing besides the pain, the damage, and the creature that was still lurking.

She looked up, blood dripping from her open mouth as she stared at the animal crouching over her.

With a swipe of a taloned hand, Loor found herself on her back. This... _thing_ was kneeling on her chest, shoving her clawed thumbs into her mouth and glaring down at her. _**Pathetic!**_ She snorted. _**You created me? You trapped me? You controlled me? I don't believe it! You are a soft, whimpering little creature... Why did I let you live?**_

Loor wanted to swallow the blood pooling in her mouth, but didn't dare as she could feel the razors against her cheeks, threatening to split her face open the second this animal decided to do so. Still, what she said sparked a realization in her. _You have memories! _

_**Of course I do! Not many, but I know enough to know this; **_She bent over Loor, touching noses with her. **_You are my enemy. A prudish, pathetic weakling, and I will not be constrained by you! As of now, I own you... do you understand? _**

The rest of her talons had come to rest on Loor's skull, making the girl realize that this creature was poised to set some ground rules, and resistance would not be tolerated. _What do you want? _Her mental voice was frantic, nearly screaming, as tears began to cloud her vision. _My mind is already broken! Please don't damage me more! _

**_Not broken, stupid girl. Burnt! Fire turning pathways into roadblocks... it hurts us both... _**The animal hissed. **_We share... we don't share... we are one, we are separate... We acted together, but you rejected me! So, let's call this a fresh start... a new beginning, where I'm on top, holding your mind hostage, and you're on bottom, doing what I tell you. And if I don't like anything... _**

Loor whimpered as the claws inside her cheeks pulled a little, firm hands beginning to pull her jaw apart until she openly cried; teeth were being wrenched from their roots, the bone bowing as skin cracked, talons raking hot trails of pain against her scalp. _No... stop it... please stop it! Just tell me what you want! _

_**I want to live! **_The animal suddenly stood up, picking up Loor by her head. The girl was left limp by the pain; she could have put her feet on the floor and stood straight, but no attention could be spared for her toes; she was too preoccupied by the thought of her head getting ripped in two. Or maybe the animal would change directions and crush her skull like an egg. **_You've been keeping me out... I've been locked in here, not even able to watch... You will let me in, let me see, and I will direct you as I wish... _**

_What do you... what do you wish? _The thought was hardly a whimper. It wasn't that Loor was thinking of submission, she was just trying to understand why this animal hadn't even seen fit to give her a chance.

_**Everything. **_She hissed, though it suddenly changed into a purr as she thought about her personal objectives. **_To kill, to love, to ravage... I want to take the world and rip it to shreds... to bathe in the blood, and revel in pleasure from whatever source I see fit, willing or not. _**Her black eyes narrowed. _**And unable to do it myself, you will be my tool. My toy through which I take the world as my own... you and I will destroy everything we touch, twist creation, and force lesser creatures to their knees! And the first thing we are going to do is kill the man who's lap you're sleeping on.**_

_Jak? _Loor blinked, feeling the need to struggle but quelling it. _Why? _

_**I've no problem with him, but the creature that lives in him... he's another like me, and you let him mark you. He laid fangs to your throat. If I let him live, I admit he is a greater force than myself... A waste of such a beautiful body, I admit, but he needs to die, and the only way to kill him is to kill his host. **_

Loor's hands had been hanging at her sides this whole time. She had avoided struggling for fear that it would provoke this animal, but now she lifted her hands and clasped her fingers around the creature's wrists, putting her feet on the floor and supporting her own weight. _No._

_**No? **_The animal put more pressure against Loor's jaw. **_Do you want me to destroy you? _**

_I'm not going to kill him. _Her grip tightened, feeling the room swirl around her. In her panic she'd forgotten that this was her mind; her place.

She had control of this place. From the colors to the size, the amount of blankets to how far away the black void of the roof was. She could make doors, change the shape of the room, or even invert gravity if she so decided. The limit was her imagination.

She was in control.

_And you... WILL NOT TOUCH HIM! _

The movement was sudden; throwing her head back as she yanked the talons out of her mouth, kicking the monster away form herself as she quickly backed up. She was strong here; stronger than the beast. Still, it was far from enough to subdue her; the creature was coming back, roaring with her claws ready to inflict more pain. **_Stupid girl! _**

As suddenly as she'd thrown the animal off, Loor desperately felt for some sort of way to restrain the creature. Her mind clicked with something, a previously used defense mechanism, that caused some kind of cage to bisect the room. Cold iron bars stood in the way of the animal's charge, blocking her and making her roar and yowl.

Loor clenched her fists, willing away the pain from all the damage that had been inflicted. Wounds in her mental form closed, and blood stopped dripping from her lips as she healed though her thoughts alone. _Now you... _She growled, _listen to me. I don't know what you are, or who you THINK you are... I don't even know who I am for crying out loud... but I'm not going to let you do this to me! _

The animal screamed at first, having crashed into the barricade and then lacing her talons through it. Loor could feel her rage in the air; emotions that contrasted with her own. **_You think you're the only one who can manipulate this place? It's not yours alone... This place belongs to us both. _**

Loor was about to ask what she meant by that, but instead screamed as the room itself vanished, both her and the animal plummeting into darkness.

* * *

><p>Jak hadn't moved at all since Loor had fallen asleep. It didn't matter that the lights were on, that his clothes were getting uncomfortable, or anything else. She'd passed out on his lap and he wasn't going to move for fear of disturbing her. It wasn't like he was planning on sleeping at all anyway.<p>

At least, not any better than he'd slept the night before.

Usually it was just his nightmares keeping him wary of spending too much time unconscious; Dark was a malicious force in his mind that liked to take old memories and twist them into haunting visions, manipulating his mind to the point that the nightmares felt real. Jak could force face-to-face confrontations, but there was little point in it unless he was so desperate to wake up that he'd willingly take all the pain the creature had the power to inflict. He'd long grown used to these facts, and avoided sleeping any more than was required.

But now he had something else that was keeping him awake at night.

He was the one who damaged Loor.

He wasn't sure if he was guilty, or angry, or just frustrated. Mostly likely it was a little bit of all three, but it left him with a realization that made him nervous.

Eventually, he'd have to tell her. He'd have to tell her that it was his fault that she didn't remember anything; that he was the one that burnt out her brain. She'd suffered a compulsion to be honest to him in the past, and he only felt it right to return the gesture, even if she didn't remember it, or much else. Wondering about her reaction only served to make him worry more; what if she got angry and left? There wasn't much out there for her... if she struck off on her own, he had no idea if she'd be okay.

She shifted in her sleep, nuzzling against him and breaking him out of his worry for a moment. A smile tried to emerge out of his brooding glower, his arms shifting around her to hug her as she slept. He knew if she woke up he'd have to let go; she didn't remember the connection they'd shared. It drove him insane; how close they'd gotten both physically and emotionally. Now he was left with the memories of how much they'd been after each other... and forced to keep a respectful distance.

On the other hand, if he closed his eyes and acted asleep whenever she woke up, he couldn't very well be blamed for holding her, could he? She was snuggling up to him as she rested; fair was fair, right?

His smile gained control of his face, the glower easing off as he gave her a small squeeze, letting his eyes drift closed. Instead of his worries, he focused on the warmth they were sharing. The future, their monsters, didn't matter as long as he could remember what this was like.

Having someone who understood him in his arms.

Given half a chance, he would have fallen asleep right there... if she hadn't awoken suddenly and violently. Her body jerked as if she'd been shocked, letting out a yelp as she threw all of her weight to one side, taking them both off of the couch and on to the floor. He was aware enough to throw an arm out, softening the fall for himself and holding her just short of impact. Of course, since she was awake now, respectful distance was back in effect. Letting go, he sat up to look down at her.

She was wide awake and arguing with the blanket she'd wrapped up in, trying to get upright but finding her arms pinned to her side and thus no help in her ventures. Eventually she wiggled around enough to get her arms free, re-arranging herself to be sitting on the floor as he backed off, watching her signals carefully. "You okay?" Was his first question as she looked around the room, seemingly in awe of it.

"I... I didn't think I'd get away." She muttered, clearly disturbed. "When you said 'nightmares' I figured it couldn't be too bad... just like any other scary dream... but..."

"It's not." He nodded, giving the signal that he knew exactly what she was talking about.

She shuddered, a yawn following after to show she hadn't actually gotten much rest through the exchange. Then, as if struck, her face twisted into an unpleasant expression... "Ugh... I can feel her now... her emotions... what she wants..."

"She'll make demands every time." Jak told her. "Ignore them. Never give in."

"Don't have to tell me twice... that's _never_ happening."

He blinked, wondering if he dare ask. Lyra's demands were usually of a carnal nature; the animal had a greater focus on the pleasures of life than the powers of causing death. It was one of the many differences he noticed between their two dark sides. If it were Lyra's usual demands, and Loor was saying 'never'...

Just how much could memory loss change a girl?

She looked up at him in the silence, her eyes getting brighter despite the fact that the hour was ungodly and she'd been asleep only moments ago. She studied the look on his face, and then moved to explain. "She wants me to kill you." She said to the worried look on his face. "Is that different than before?"

"Oh." He nodded slightly. "Yeah. Way different."

"She's angry... I mean, I get the feeling that she's always full of angry, aggressive energy, that just seems to be her way... but she's particularly pissed that..." She put her hand to her neck, feeling the spots where Dark had dug his fangs in. The pricks in her flesh had long stopped bleeding and scabbed over, superficial and painless at this point. Now that she thought it, the fact that the creature possessed both deadly power and such incredible finesse made him all the more frightening. "That _he_ dominated me... makes me wonder if he's as smug as she is angry."

"Don't ask me, I block him out when he's this weak."

"Maybe you'll sleep better tonight." She offered, trying to think of a bright side. "Speaking of..." She was eying the couch; it was her place to sleep until such time as other arrangements were made. "I'm in no hurry to go back, but I've gotta try to rest... and you too. There's still a whole world of trouble brewing out there. We can't just... stop everything cause we've got issues, right?"

He moved, offering a hand to help her up as her legs were more tangled up than her arms had been. "It would be nice..." He muttered as she nodded, letting him lift her straight off of the floor and back onto the cushions. "Sure you'll be okay?"

"No idea." She answered with a huff, no longer looking at him. "But she's not going to go away... And I can't just stop sleeping."

He considered what she said for a moment, and then suddenly turned to leave the room. She stared after him, fearing that she'd said something stupid or insensitive. Unsure, she re-arranged herself enough that the blanket no longer constricted her as it had before, able to stand up and go for the light switch on the wall. It was going to be tough to get back to sleep, but she had to try... even if Jak's sudden absence from the room.

With the light off the room was pitch dark; no windows or anything else to let in or create light. Now blind, she felt her way back to the couch, her toes seeking safe footing as she'd nearly forgotten about the machine parts that were strewn across the carpet. Even if she stepped on something that didn't have any sharp edges, it would still be cold enough to make her yelp.

"Wait."

A voice in the darkness, making her turn her head even though her eyes were useless. He was back, giving a brief touch to her shoulder as she felt him brushing past her. As she was told, she stopped and waited, listening closely. He was doing something, but the sounds were not enough for her to figure what.

Then she felt his hand again; the sensation almost made her jump as he gently pulled on her. "What are you doing?" She asked; finding extra padding on the couch when she sat down again.

There was a long pause; he'd joined her, reclining as he had before, but she found an extra pillow on his chest this time, and a thin blanket between them. "You... said I made you feel safe."

He sounded unsure of his words; she was reminded that he didn't talk much. It was okay; what words he did give her were endearing.

"... thank you, Jak."

He responded by loosely wrapping his arms around her shoulders.

* * *

><p><strong>The Author's Corner<strong>

HOLY FUCK WE'RE BACK. Hokay, so I'd like to apologize for the absence... there's a lot of reasons for it, but it all ties back to this one.

Readers; you've met the character Alex through my writing. Whether you're a new reader and you just know her as she's been expressed thus far in VoW, or you're an old reader and you've read Sammich... you know her. She's based off of a good friend of mine.

That friend is now dead. Her name was Lizzy, and she was an incredible woman. She died about a month ago, at the age of 19. I've been... beside myself. I don't know how else to say it.

I will continue this re-write. I will still re-write Sammich, as my own personal way of immortalizing her in fiction. She never got to grow up all the way and find love, or have the family she always wanted... the least I can do is give her the Happily-Ever-After she deserved. My own little way of respecting the dead, I guess.

Lizzy, I love you.

-Lauren


	10. The Mission

**I don't own Jak and Daxter. Sorry.**

**Vacation or War-Endgame  
><strong>**Chapter Ten-The Mission**

It had been two long months since that night. For Loor, they were months filled with anxiety and combat practice; her worry was for her own mind, and the training was for her body's poor condition. The time she'd spent in a hospital bed had made her rather pathetic, and she refused to live with it. Jak was quite supportive in her goal to become a formidable force, despite the fact that her mind was yet to show any signs of recovery.

That didn't seem to matter right now. The brain damage was nothing but a set-back that she could ignore while there were bigger fish to fry. One of those proverbial fish was the possible war that was brewing within Haven City. One that she'd spent many a night in the last two months keeping an eye on.

KG rebels had made their opposition loud but just peaceful enough that not very many of them had been jailed. They'd protest Ashelin's rule and attempts at changing Haven by blocking people's way in and out of the industrial section, trying to press workers to join their ranks. Their goal was to unseat their new ruler for someone that was more 'qualified.' Loor would like to say the people ignored them, but more than once she'd heard others muttering about how they almost missed the old Baron.

The ones that had been arrested were the ones caught stealing raw materials from manufacturing operations, as well as construction in New Haven. Massive amounts of metal, raw eco, and otherwise had vanished; most of which without explanation. The few cases where the FL caught someone in the act were a miniscule percentage if they were to go by how many materials had simply disappeared.

This convinced Loor that the KG rebels, as a group, were up to something. They were playing nice for now, but they had to have something else going on. Why else would they be stealing so much? And where were they putting it all? A stockpile within the city was yet to be found, and all places capable of holding that much material had been checked. So far, the only good part of the last two months was that, despite the thefts and road-block protests by the KG, construction on the new FL HQ was finally finished... fat lot of good it seemed to be doing now, though. Plenty of heists were still going down in the industrial section, leaving all of the inquiries hanging up in the air.

Loor was pondering these questions again as she stood on watch within the industrial section. She was walking on one of the sky-bridges, her eyes mostly forward so that she could see both where she was going and the ground below her. She liked the bridges; the breeze in her face let her escape the smell of the city for a few short moments, imagining something greener as she held one hand ready over her pistol, the other ready to go over her shoulder for her stave if needed. On patrol within the city, she was forced to wear FL colors. Not the full suit of armor, thank Mar, just a light breastplate covered in blue enamel paint and it's corresponding back-piece with her name painted down the left side in yellow.

Wearing FL colors didn't stop her from wearing a red scarf in her hair; the black cascade had been tied up into a twisted bun, the scarf secured around the mass of hair with a binder to keep loose strands from escaping. Some people took offense to her wearing a red scarf, but Jak assured her that she had the right. It wasn't a symbol of the KG, but the fact that she'd survived in the underground. She wasn't remembering the Baron, she was celebrating his demise.

Remembering Jak made her frown slightly; she was alone on this watch. It had been a few weeks ago when Torn saw fit to split them up for some missions, sending Loor out on her own. She didn't like being alone; watch was a long and boring task. All she did was walk from one place to another, and occasionally report that there was nothing to report into the mic pinned to her collar, to which a too-loud voice of some faceless superior would come back through an ear piece plugged into her ear, confirming that they heard her all-clear.

She figured tonight was going to be like any other watch she'd gotten stuck alone on, not even having Daxter for company. She'd counted the fifth time she'd made it back to her starting point, reporting in at the end of her lap and turning once more to face her nose towards the slums, her boots clinking on the metal walk-way. She winced at the confirmation hitting her eardrum, her hand slipping from her pistol to loosen the speaker from the cup of her ear. A raw spot was forming on one of the inner ridges from the hard plastic. She touched it tenderly, softly cursing.

And then she heard the clicking of boots other than her own.

They were below her, on the ground. Eyes turned first to the comm. unit that was hooked on her hip and plugged into both the mic and speaker she was using; it told her the time was the wonderful hour of 2 in the morning, plus a quarter. That noted, her eyes swept to the ground to seek out where the noise was coming from. The sound of one set of boots had turned to many.

Shadows were thrown in many directions in the industrial section at night; blue and red running lights indicated where the corners were, but aside from that the area really needed to invest in some white streetlights. Such shadows made Loor doubt her sight for a moment; she saw a group of people on the move below her. Men, tall and imposing. Twenty? Thirty? She squinted, stopping in her path for fear that one of them might hear her foot-falls and look up.

They were passing the corner on the ground; near one of the bright red lights. In that light, she saw their tattoos. Without any sign of an FL emblem, she had to assume them to be ex. KG. Whether they were rebels or not, she had no evidence either way. They were sticking pretty tight in a group though, and that usually meant the worst. Bullies liked to travel in large numbers.

Peering at the group, she found none of them were armed. They moved with purpose, quickly and quietly as they could on the metal streets of the industrial section. Her fist instinct was to find the fastest way off of the walkway and follow them, but her instincts were things she'd learn to fight over the last few weeks.

Instead, she pressed and held the button that would open her link to her current faceless superior; they changed so often she never committed any names to memory. "Activity on the ground. Twenty to thirty unknown persons... going north. All with service tattoos, no apparent weapons. Advise?"

There was a moment's pause in the link before the too-loud reply hurt her ear, despite the fact that she'd loosened the mic. _"Pursue and observe... Find out where they're going." _

Her gut feelings felt better when someone told her it was okay.

"Acknowledged." Loor moved quickly, finding the nearest way down to the ground and doing her best to trot without making too much noise; she'd lost time getting to the ramp and had to catch up to the group or she'd loose them. If there was anything she'd change about the sky bridges, it would be the access ramps; there needed to be more of them. She could have jumped, she supposed... but she didn't feel like taking the risk of broken shins tonight.

Thankfully, she caught up fast. Two corners turned and she'd found the mass of men passing around another bend in the street. She was tempted to unhook her comm. and check her map to see their exact location, but decided not to bother; instead creeping up and looking for anything she could use as cover. If one of them happened to look back, they'd see her.

Cover was provided by a large pipe in the wall; it was carrying eco somewhere; she could feel that much when she pressed up against it. The buzz through the metal made her twitch, but she didn't have time to be distracted.

The group of men, whoever they were, had arrived at their own destination. A slope down in the road that led to an access door; the security door that led to the sewers.

What were they up to?

At first she was sure they were about to make fools of themselves; the security door required access codes these days. Instead, she felt the fool as she heard the door open anyway and the group continued the on their way.

"Group of unknown persons has entered the sewers through industrial access. Someone in the group knew the code... I want to keep following them."

She nearly jumped out of her skin when a more familiar voice came over her mic.

"_Keep on it, Loor. Something funny is going on here." _

She had to blink for a moment. "...Torn? They patch you through?"

"_There's been reports at every major exit out of the city of ex. KG leaving in massive numbers. That's fine, they can leave the city if they want, but your group is smaller and just hacked through a security door without tripping any alarms. They're worth following." _

"Lucky me..." She muttered, slipping out of her hiding place when the last head disappeared below street level. She padded up behind, feeling horribly exposed in the wide and empty lanes of the industrial section as she crossed to the ramp that would take her down into the sewers. Part of her might have been afraid, but she wasn't listening to it.

Instead she waited for the door to close and then approached it quickly. There was a cargo lift inside the door; it was more than capable of holding them all. The door would open again, out of their earshot, as they descended into the sewers. Aware of both the smell she was about to battle and her own sensitive nose, she removed her scarf from her hair and tied it over her face. "Open the door for me?" She quested, not knowing the code to get in at the moment.

"_Permission sent, it's waiting for the lift to get back to the top." _

"You got anyone following after me?" Her voice muffled a little as she pulled the knot of her scarf tight over her nose and mouth. Hopefully the smell of her shampoo that had soaked into her scarf from her hair would keep her nose safe from the reek of the sewer, or at least blunt it.

"_There's a unit on their way; they'll follow a ways behind you. Shit happens, they'll be right there. If not, no one will ever know." _

"Good." She rolled her shoulders a little as the door finally opened; the lift was at the top, waiting for her.

"_You like going it alone? Last I heard you rathered having a partner." _

"Jak's the only partner I get along with." She lowered her voice as she entered the lift. "I'm in the lift. Let's see what our tattooed friends are up to."

* * *

><p>The sewers were a massive labyrinth of tunnels, walkways, pipes, and smelly water. Due to the round shape of the tunnels Loor all but cut off communication with Torn; curved walls liked to carry sound a lot further than expected. She was lucky that the echoes of the boots of the group she was following were more than enough to mask her own foot steps. He still talked to her once in a while, a softer tone that treated her ear better, letting her know when she was coming up on a security gate, or turret defenses. The occasional heads-up was nice, but all it really did was let her know how much these guys had gotten into the FL's system.<p>

Security gates opened without trouble. Turret defenses were deactivated from a distance. The group of tattooed men passed through without even a nervous glance back at the defenses they'd overridden... and Loor followed, quietly, briefly wondering to herself how in hell she was going to find her way back to the city at this rate. Despite her decent sense of direction, she had no clue where under the city they had to be.

Following them for at least an hour, Loor saw fit to hang back and ask Torn a question.

"Just where are we?"

"_Nearing the wall on the north-west side. You'll be entering one of the waste management areas soon; water purification and recycling. The wall extends underground, but there's an access gate that leads to the outside on the top level of this section." _

"Why didn't they just leave the city through the regular doors like all their buddies?" She wondered out loud, her eyes watching the backs of her targets as they slowly got further away. She'd picked this moment to stop because they were on a long and straight tunnel; she could maintain her sight of them while holding far enough back to whisper over her mic. Something the struck her was that these guys had been silent for the whole trip.

"_That's what you're down there to find out, Loor." _

"How are things top-side?"

"_Quiet... disturbingly so. It seems like every KG in the city who wanted Ashelin gone have up and left themselves. I don't like it. I've beefed up patrols everywhere on the inside." _

"Where did the ones who jumped ship run off to?"

"_Not sure... we lost them just past the gates, but no one was really actively perusing them until most of them were already gone." _

"Beautiful..." She muttered sarcastically. "Alright, looks like they're heading for another gate at the end of this tunnel."

"_That'll be the lift; it'll take them into waste management and straight to the top level. Get after them; you might lose them in there." _

She nodded slightly, waiting until the door shut behind her targets before sprinting across the distance they had just so calmly walked. She was loosing her calm pretty quickly; she felt as if she was going to find something down here, and it had her both excited and terrified. What were these tattooed men up to?

The only thing that diminished the excitement of the moment and made her fear grow was the fact that she was alone. She would have loved to have Jak with her, or even just Daxter. Dax had offered to come with her this time; she and Jak kinda traded him back and forth... but she'd turned him down because he was such a loud mouth; she figured having him along on watch would be frustrating and annoying.

But now something was actually happening, and she would have given anything for a good wise-crack right then. She was tense, her mind tightening around the questions of what might be at the top of that lift. She wanted to start puzzling it out, but hadn't the mental power to spare.

As she got to the lift, it's gates already open for her thanks to Torn, she felt a short but pointed ache shoot through her brain, reminding her that she couldn't be thinking too hard. With fear and exhilaration also coursing through her frontal lobe, her tendency to try and puzzle things out on the run left her without the required energy to block out something she considered more dangerous than the people she was following.

As always, Lyra was clawing at the walls; seeking escape. She was always lurking, looking for a moment of weakness where she could shove through Loor's mental blockades and get outside.

Wincing, Loor tried to stop thinking; that pain was a warning. The door to the lift shut with her inside, the platform accelerating up the shaft and after her targets.

She drew her pistol as she waited to hit the top, wondering what was waiting at the end of this journey. In line with her growing fear of going in alone, she saw fit to ask Torn one last question.

"Are Jak and Daxter still on watch in agriculture?"

"_Last I heard." _

She didn't like that answer. "When did you hear last?"

"_Don't worry about it. Find out what's happening here and get back home; that's your mission." _

What had been a lump of fear rising up in her chest burst on the back of her neck; a hot sizzle running up and down her spine. Her instinct was to demand the information Torn was keeping from her. Something was happening in the city. Her mouth opened, adrenaline about to push her into shouting through her mic.

The lift hit the top of the shaft, the door sweeping open. She clapped her jaw shut, gritting her teeth. Her addiction to information would have to wait.

The mission had to come first.

* * *

><p><strong>The Author's Corner<strong>

Um... hiii everyone. I'm sorry it took so long to get this chapter out. After the shock of Alex's death and such, getting writing again was actually really difficult... and then getting this chapter just right was... Well, I'll put this simply, I had to delete it like four times before this version came out of it. I actually really like this version; no more pandering dialog, let's get some action!

I love you all so much for your support. Really, I mean it. Thank you, everyone, who sent me reviews, PMs, and so on. For those who asked what happened to her, allow me to explain exactly what went down.

Alex went away to join the Navy, and got some sort of viral infection during basic training. She was training to become military police. A lot of us joked with her that she was out to find her 'Torn' in the real world (she was a huge fangirl of him, loved his voice). The infection she got turned into phenomena. Liquid built up in her lungs, putting stress on them. This in turn put stress on her heart. She suffered a heart attack, and a second one before she'd even made it to the VA hospital. When the third heart attack happened the doctors decided to put her into a chemical induced coma, attempting to take stress off of the body and give them time to figure out what was happening to her.

The forth heart attack killed her.

She was not buried; her parents decided to cremate her according to Alex's wishes, and they are keeping the ashes.

I miss her. It's so difficult to come to terms with it because she had gone away to basic training; we were all mentally prepared for her to be gone for a couple months; it feels like we're all waiting for her to come back, wearing her uniform and grinning like she always does. I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel like she could just pop up again, because we never saw the body. Her parents were the only ones; they met her when the Navy escorted her home and had her cremated at once.

Ack, sorry... I know this ain't a blog but I kinda feel you guys deserve to know. Again, I love you all for all of your support.

See you next time punks.

-Loor


	11. Impasse

**I don't own Jak and Daxter. Sorry. Wish I did. Hey, anyone know how long before a copyright has to be renewed for a video game? Cause last I checked, Naughty Dog wasn't exactly all that good about holding onto its old IP... /evil laugh/ Yeah, right... I wish. **

**Vacation or War-Endgame  
><strong>**Chapter Eleven-Impasse**

Torn didn't like lying to his men. Or, in Loor's case, women. On the other hand, she _was_ brain damaged. According to him she was just a ticking time-bomb in the first place. Not useless, but not completely worthy of trust.

Right now, she could do without knowing that metal heads had broken through the security gate in agricultural shortly after all the KG had vanished from the city, and several more breeches were letting them all in from the west side. She didn't need to know that FL forces had been forced back as far as the Bazaar and palace square, holding them out of the Port but failing to force them back out of the farming zones.

She most definitely didn't need to know that he hadn't heard a peep from either Jak nor Daxter since the wall was breached. Granted, Jak wasn't the most talkative type when he was working, and he'd just be telling Torn everything he was already hearing from dozens of other men on the ground; that things were not going well. At this point it didn't really matter if they could get the metal heads out; fighting in agricultural would poison the soil. The eco in their blood would kill or at least mutate everything.

Ashelin was watching over that right now. She and a few trusted advisers were overseeing a virtual display of the city, now being used to represent a battle that no one had expected to actually penetrate past the walls. While he was listening to just a few comm. links, occasionally shouting changes in the situation over his shoulder at her, she had at least a dozen people talking into her head set, as well as a few people arguing across the holographic display of Haven about what needed to be done to protect the city. Torn had been there too, not long ago, trying to sort out all the chaos for her when Loor's report came in.

KG rebels, leaving the city like all the others, but through the sewers... like they had something to hide. All the codes they'd used thus far to get through the system without tripping a single alarm disturbed Torn, making him wonder who leaked the information out of the FL to them. Someone would have to find that leak and plug it. The longer she followed them, the more his his attention he gave to her situation, slowly shutting out the tumult that Ashelin was dealing with.

"Barricade it!" Ashelin snapped, suddenly breaking into everyone's head with a stern and authoritative voice. "We may not be able to kill them all, or even get them all the way out, but we can blockade them in there, can't we? Force 'em back and seal agricultural off!"

"They'll taint the soil!" One of the others shouted in shock and protest. "The city will starve next year-"

"Let's work on living through tonight, huh?" Ashelin's argument was carried by the force of her voice. No one really wanted to fight her. "Seal it! Reactivate the barriers between city sections and seal off agriculture. Clear the bazaar and do the same. We'll use it as a buffer zone."

Reluctant agreement came from those assembled, only a moment more stalled before they all got onto various modes of communication, handing Ashelin's orders down to the people who needed to know them. Torn could hear her letting off an exasperated sigh, looking over his shoulder to see her pulling off the headset and leaning her hands on the rim of the giant computer in the middle of the room. It was shaped like a tall kiddy pool, but had enough technological muscle to display holograms, act as a communications hub, and hold all the intel the FL would ever need with room to spare. And, as Ashelin was currently demonstrating, it was perfect height for leaning on when one was exhausted beyond belief.

"Good move." Torn encouraged softly from the background, watching as her eyes closed in only the briefest of respite.

"Vegar's idea." She snorted, a finger tapping the headset she'd put down on the rim of the computer. "Got the whole council shouting in my ear... only way to shut the old bags up is to agree with 'em... But I'm no patsy."

Torn nodded; he knew what else the council was calling for. Ashelin may have given in to the commands that made sense, but she still relented on one very key thing; throwing Jak and Loor out of the city.

"_Torn... you still there?" _

Rounding again, Torn returned to his message station. Ashelin stood straighter as she walked over, curious to know what Loor had found down in the sewers, chasing after some of the KG members who'd left the city. "What do you got, Loor?"

"_The door you told me about, that leads outside the wall... where is it supposed to go?" _It was now that Torn noticed Loor was speaking in little more than a stage-whisper. Her voice was tense.

"Outside the city, on a cargo ramp for the surface. There should be grooves in the floor and a winch for moving pallets of materials."

"_Well yeah, I saw all that. But the ramp didn't go outside... it's like some kind of warehouse. Huge, I'm seeing barrels of raw eco, sheet metal, pipes... there's enough here to build a small city. The guys I was following went through a door on the far end, but-" _

She suddenly cut off, fuzz coming over her mic for a moment. Torn blinked, and Ashelin swept in. "What's going on?"

"_Ashelin, you too?" _Loor swore. _"Something's happening. The door just shut behind me, and there's humming like a lot of power is moving... what the?" _

An unmistakable roar of an engine came over Loor's mic. Correction; several engines.

* * *

><p>Loor had taken a step back when the whole room rumbled with the roar of a massive group of engines turning over. Since walking into the large warehouse like space she'd had her hand on her pistol, ready for one of those guards to come back. She'd even picked out several good spots to take cover in respect to the door she'd seen them all go through. Now she lifted that hand away to hold it out, steadying herself against the very pallet of sheet metal she'd been planning to duck behind if the need so arouse.<p>

"Hell!" She abandoned her whisper, bending her knees in the desperate attempt to keep upright as she felt the world around her lurch. "It's not a building, it's a vehicle!"

This garnered no response from Torn. At least, not for her. Loor imagined he was hurriedly speaking with the unit he'd sent to follow her, trying to get them to catch up and bail her out before whatever vehicle she'd unwittingly walked into took off with her trapped inside. Left with that, she simply stayed crouched down low, trying to ignore the vibration all around her. It made the lashed-together lengths of pipe on the far end of the room rattle, along with her teeth.

"_Loor, you there?" _

Ashelin's voice. Torn was in the background, talking to someone else.

"Still alive, for the moment." She answered, feeling terror beginning to well up in her. There was no doubt in her mind that all of what she was seeing here were the stolen materials from the industrial section and the FL construction projects. That meant the people she'd been following were indeed rebels, and they were taking all of this stuff... somewhere... with her on-board. Usually an enemy ship full of stolen goods would be a good idea to destroy, but the fact that she was in the cargo hold with at least three dozen barrels of raw eco had her hesitant about trying to blow it up from the inside.

"_You need to get off that thing." _Ashelin's level and commanding voice acted as a comfort to Loor. It brought her back to earth, preventing panic. _"Preferably while it's still warming up. The unit Torn sent is following after you, but none of them are carrying the type of heat that'll blast through a cargo door. Is there anything you can use? Look around." _

Loor pushed herself to move, crossing the room and nearly crawling in order to get to the only useful thing she saw in all of this. "Raw eco, several barrels. Pretty sure I can use it to blow the door, assuming I don't hurt myself with it." An idea was already forming, but to be totally honest she had no clue if it would work the way she wanted it to. "Kick a barrel over and blow the door with it... assuming I don't blow myself to bits at the same time. Think that'll-"

The rumbling of engines drove up to a roar, cutting Loor off as the whole world seemed to jerk under her feet, knocking her to the floor and hanging desperately onto the grooves that had been used to slide pallets of material into place around the cargo hold. Cursing, desperately trying to get her footing back, she realized this ship was already moving.

"_Damn!" _Ashelin swore as well, though it didn't matter much. Loor was sure they were tracking her location through her comm. unit, so Ashelin knew from more than the roaring the background that Loor was now on the move. _"Taking off that fast is dangerous, they must have figured out they were followed." _

"Think they know I'm on board?"

"_No idea... I wouldn't wait around for it though." _

"What's your suggestion?" Loor had finally gotten her feet under her again, clamping onto an eco barrel and thanking the powers that be for her FL breastplate; it gave her an extra layer of protection as she clung to the hard edge of metal. "Jump from a moving aircraft?"

Ashelin answered without hesitation. _"They're flying low, probably trying to avoid notice so close to the city. It's either that or wait for them to find you. I don't want to loose you in there, Loor. The guard had you prisoner once before, do you really wanna do that again?" _She didn't wait for an answer. _"You gotta move fast, or you're going to go off of the city's location grid. Now or never." _

"Alright!" The girl snapped, aware that Ashelin's demand only _sounded_ crazy because she was terrified. Or maybe that was the reason it only sounded kinda crazy instead of totally crazy. Either way, she yanked hard on the barrel she'd been leaning upon. The metal drum of eco was strapped onto it's pallet, she noted after her first yank, and released it before trying a second time to tumble the drum and send it rolling to the cargo door.

It landed with a hard thud, the other drums now rattling with the movement of the ship without their securing tether. Without a second thought she pulled her juice rod from her back, stabbing it through the metal drum, jarring her hands in the process. Now wasn't the time to care though; if she dropped off of the location grid Ashelin and Torn wouldn't be able to find her through her comm. unit; she'd make a death-defying leap from this ship only to die slowly of whatever injuries she might sustain from the fall.

Using her weapon as a lever, she turned the new hole she'd made until it faced forward and dripped liquid eco down the side of the drum, onto the floor. The dark substance sparked wherever it contacted with or got close to solid material, several purple arcs hitting her skin among other things. The jolts of energy disturbed her, but she refused to lose her focus.

She ran back into the hold, taking cover behind a pallet of pipes, and pulled out her pistol. She'd fire at the spilled eco like a fuse for a powder keg.

"_Loor, you've got about five minuets before we lose you." _

She didn't respond, taking a deep breath and letting it out before leaning out of her cover, firing a single shot, and ducking back again to hug her own head around the ears, screwing her eyes shut. Despite her desperate move to protect herself from the sound, she felt the explosion throughout her body. It whacked into the pallet she was leaning against, pitching her forward to fall against the metal floor yet again. She knew she screamed, but that didn't conquer the sound of the violent boom. Worse was the residue; eco energy that had been contained within the liquid now raced through the air, seeking anything to wrap up into. Adsorbing it was both painful and pleasurable for her, her scream getting kicked out of her lungs with greater violence.

For a moment she feared losing control.

She forced her jaw shut, to cut off the noise. She had to keep control. She had to. Letting go of her head and realizing her nose was bleeding from being the first thing to hit the floor, she could faintly hear the rushing wind over the ringing in her head. Looking behind her, she found her first objective had been accomplished; the door was open. Darkness rushed by outside, the wind lashing into the space and scrambling to grab anything and drag it back out. The other loose eco barrels went first as Loor clung to the pallet that had saved her from the explosion that blew the door.

"_Loor! You still there? Talk to me!" _

"Still alive." She numbly confirmed, surprised the ear piece was still attached to her person. Ashelin sounded like she was very far away though, the ringing so loud in her head. She could barely hear anything else. "Door's open."

"_Four minuets. Sooner you jump, the sooner we get you back for treatment." _

_Assuming I survive. _She thought grimly to herself. Her thoughts were easier to hear over the high pitched ringing. She didn't need Ashelin telling her to make the jump, she just had to step out from behind the pallet. The wind would take her and whip her out of the cargo hold on a short trip to the ground. She'd hold her head, to protect it, and likely curl up into a little ball. Would that be the best way to avoid injury? She didn't know. She didn't know anything.

All she knew is she was afraid. Paralyzed with fear. The ripping currents of air had all of her attention as she gripped her feeble shield; the strap holding the pallet of pipes together.

_**Don't wait. The sooner you move, the more likely we survive. **_

She didn't know if she _could_ move. She wanted to; she wanted to escape. She had no memory of the previous time the KG had held her, but the creature whispering in her head was the result. Her insanity, her monster, now trying to save her was a somewhat ironic point in all of this. If she continued to exist, it would be free from any imprisonment.

But reason had she to live? The idea struck her suddenly. Did she actually have a reason to want her own survival?

_**Idiotic child! **_

_Do I? _

_**I DO! **_

The takeover was sudden and violent; the monster's emotions rushing past her own and forcing her to step out and away from her cover, willingly leaping into the wind as the transformation rippled through them. Loor was removed from the drivers seat, and Lyra took control for what could possibly be the end of them... or at least something that was going to be extremely painful.

It didn't matter. Pain and suffering were the cost of survival, and nothing was more important than that.

The ground rushed up in a way that was blindingly fast... and yet almost in slow motion. Sensations like the cold and ripping gales of wind could be closely examined, and while the scrubby wilderness below seemed to be rushing up so quickly, it was always so far away.

And then it wasn't so far away at all. Impact was sudden but without sensation; it was too much for even Lyra's mind to take. Her body seemed to bounce, tumbling as another impact rocked her, claws reaching for anything to hold onto. Shrubs and grasses crushed, short saplings and thorny bushes stabbed and scratched, and yet another meeting with the ground threw her into a whole different spin.

Then she slid. She stayed upon the ground, skidding and rolling and eventually coming to a final stop. While Lyra's usual focus was complete awareness, she found herself withdrawn to her own person. Things were broken, bleeding, sensation coming back in sudden and rude spurts that faded away as quickly as they tore through her. She growled softly in all of this, the first noise she'd made, having not even roared on the way down.

_**Silly child... **_She snorted, tasting blood on her fangs. For once, it was her own. **_There is always reason to live. _**

* * *

><p><strong>The Author's Corner<strong>

HOLY FUCK! TWO UPDATES IN THE SAME FUCKING WEEK.

But my web comic suffered a late page... Ah, guess you can't win 'em all, right?

So, why the fuck did Loor suddenly have a suicidal moment? FIND OUT NEXT TIME!

Happy reading. :)

-Loor


	12. Unity

**I do not own Jak and Daxter. **

**Vacation Or War-Endgame  
><strong>**Chapter Twelve-Unity**

Loor would never be the first to advocate the use of drugs, but when they were keeping her asleep until such time as she was in a hospital and mostly without pain, she wasn't going to argue with their usage on her person. She'd first regained possession of her own body and conciseness on the ground she, or better put, Lyra, had landed. She was near instantly overwhelmed with pain, passing out only seconds after she'd taken her mind back from the monster.

She still wondered why the animal had done that for her; she could have just forced her to take the step out and made Loor deal with the pain of the fall. Instead, the animal took it herself. It didn't make any sense.

But then, there were drugs. Lovely, lovely drugs that would keep her from thinking about those things until she was in a hospital bed, watching the sun come up between buildings in New Haven from her window.

Bones had been broken, organs bruised, but she was lucky she hadn't landed on her neck. Cracked ribs, a dislocated shoulder, skin that had been ground into hamburger, and a broken arm were already healed by the time she'd come to. Her shattered shin would be completely recovered within another matter of hours; she just had to wait for the green eco to do its work.

She loved eco when it wasn't dark. All the other colors did incredible things.

By then she'd been visited by a doctor who told her what had happened with her injuries, how much longer it would be before it was a good idea for her to walk, and so on. She'd be in the hospital for a few more hours, tops, before the let her out with a clean bill of health and gave her all of her effects that weren't destroyed in the fall.

She wasn't surprised to learn the only things that had made it through were her scarf and weapons. Actually, the scarf was pretty surprising.

She didn't settle though; the moment she was awake she started demanding information of anyone who might know; what was going on in the city? Beyond the KG's sudden disappearance, what was going on?

Doctors refused to answer, but someone else would.

"Jak!" Loor was surprised when her partner entered her room, Daxter on his shoulder . The two smiled as they came in, a doctor fleeing from Loor's demands of information. Jak took the liberty of shutting the door behind him.

"Hey sweet cheeks, what about me?" Daxter was clearly offended at not being greeted right off of the bat.

"Sorry, Dax." Loor winced as the ottsel jumped down, only narrowly missing her still healing leg, while Jak took the chair next to her bed. "How are you guys? What happened?"

"I think we get to ask you that first." Dax pointed out with a laugh. "You _did_ fall out of a moving cargo craft."

"Jumped." She sorely corrected, a stiff arm raising to rub the back of her neck. "Ashelin told me it would be better than capture... and honestly, I'm healing up fast with the eco treatments. Should be back on my feet soon enough, ready to get back into the fight."

Smiles dropped, tension creeping into the air. "About that..." Jak finally spoke, looking a little upset. "Listen, Loor..."

She blinked, the feeling that something bigger than her near-death experience had happened last night getting closer to being confirmed. "What is it? What's going on?"

"Metal heads got in through agriculture last night." Daxter picked up the slack where Jak's words failed him. He was never a good talker. "Taken it over, really. We couldn't force 'em back. Ashelin activated the barriers between city sections to keep them where they are, but it's only a matter of time... They seem to know it too. Scouts are reporting all sorts of nasty stuff. It's pretty clear now; the metal heads got a new leader. We got Kor, but some one else has stepped into his shoes... or scales, whatever you wanna say..."

"They, the city, blames us." Jak sighed, looking like he'd been through hell. Loor only now noticed the marks of worry on his face. "They think our connections with Krew somehow connect us to this; the metal heads getting in again... and now there's rumors flying around that you're affiliated with the KG, since you disappeared with them for a while last night. None of it sounds any good, and now the council is pushing for something to be done to satisfy the citizens."

Shock hit her; Loor knew her mouth was hanging open. "What? But... we saved this city, didn't we? Jak, isn't that true? We kicked Kor's scaly tail for this place, right?"

"I know!" He snapped, looking just as upset as she was confused. "Ashelin wants us back at the Palace once you can walk again... They want to keep us there until the council has decided what's going to happen. They've suspended us both form duty."

Loor nodded a little bit. "What's the word on the KG? Anyone find out where they went? They probably guessed the trajectory of that ship I was on and followed it, right?"

"Scout team hasn't come back yet." Jak was unsettled by the words as they left his mouth. "And we don't have the men to spare to send another one... Torn was going to send us, but..."

"The council." She nodded, understanding and leaning back on her pillow. She realized how lucky she was to have received treatment with the way the city was looking at her and Jak right now. And yet, she didn't truly feel grateful for her life. It brought her back to the disturbing place her head had gone shortly before her death-defying leap from that cargo ship. The fact that she was still alive brought her no joy.

Nothing did.

"Dax." She looked up at the ottsel; both he and Jak had been watching her. "Can I talk to Jak for a little while? Alone?"

Daxter looked up at his partner, and Jak nodded a little, encouraging the ottsel to go. "Ah, alright, I'll leave you two be... but I'll be right outside, so nothing funny, okay?"

"Promise." Loor assured as the orange creature bounded to the floor, leaping up to turn the handle on the door and slipping out on his own.

The door shut, and silence took the room. Loor had turned her head back towards Jak, but her jaw was left half-open. She'd begun on saying something, but her body had stopped her as she considered just how to say it.

"What's up?" He asked, seeing her argue with herself.

Her mouth shut, lips forming a hard line before they parted, trying to speak once more but failing in the attempt. Finally, drawing in a quick breath and letting it out as a short and tense sigh, she forced herself to dive in. "I didn't jump." She spat the words out, as if they tasted bad. "I wasn't going to. Lyra made me."

Three short statements, all of which made Jak stare at her with suddenly wide eyes. "Too scared?" He ventured a guess as to why, since she'd clamped down hard again, her body tense as if it were conspiring to keep her thoughts inside while she made attempts to voice them. "Sometimes they can be useful, when it comes down to do-or-die stuff-"

"_No." _She hissed the word, cutting him off and shaking her head. Strands of black hair got displaced as she endeavored to sit up straighter in bed, ignoring it as her sore and freshly healed ribs protested. "At first I was scared, but I wasn't afraid of dying... at most I might have been afraid of how much it was going to hurt... and then I wondered what point was there. For me to escape the KG again, to live. Thinking about it now, if I had stayed on that ship and gotten captured that scout team we sent would have had more to go on; my comm. unit would have tracked it until it dropped off the location grid. It's not that I'm not afraid of dying, this isn't a bravery thing... I just don't care."

"Loor..." The shock on his face was fading a little, changing over to something else. She didn't bother to try and look at him, staring at her hands in her lap.

"I should be happy I'm alive... I should be angry with Torn for withholding information about you and Dax cause he thought it would effect my performance... I should be upset that the city is blaming us for what's happening... but I'm not. At most I'm confused... and it's been this way since I took sole control of my mind. I fear pain, I get frustrated at my failures, I feel pride at my accomplishments... but there's nothing else. All the stronger stuff... that all belongs to _her." _She was coming to a realization, her own eyes going wide as her head lifted. "She saved me, Jak... I wasn't going to jump. But she not only made me take that step out, she took over so I wouldn't have to feel the pain of the impact. She didn't have to. She coulda just made me jump and pulled back, made me deal with all the ugly shit myself... but she didn't."

Her jaw hung a little slack at the thought.

"I need her. She feels all the stuff that drives survival... all those passionate, overwhelming things... I blocked her out because you told me to, you said it was all safer that way... but I've only been touched by those emotions while she's been feeling them for me... and call me crazy but I think it's all that shit that makes a person want to live."

"What about me?" He asked, finally calling enough of her attention to make her look at him.

She saw his face composed in shock, curiosity, and perhaps a touch of hurt.

"I went through a lot to save you... don't I matter enough that you'd wanna keep yourself alive?"

She lowered her face slightly, hefting a longer sigh. She wasn't as tense now. "Not too long ago... Tess asked me if you and I were back together yet. Wondering if I still felt the same way, because apparently sparks were flying before. The truth is... I haven't felt attracted, nor repulsed, by anyone. Not you, not any of the other guys around the city, hell not even the girls. You make me feel safe... but there hasn't been anything else to speak of... and I think that's because I've been keeping _her..._" She swallowed, mentally overcoming something. "Keeping Lyra out." She paused before reiterating. "Jak, I need her. I'm almost completely positive that she and I are different than you and Dark. She's not something else _tacked on _to me, I'm pretty sure she's a _part_ of me, and as long as I lock her out, I'll keep going like this..." She shook her head, clenching her hands. "And this isn't living. It's just going through the motions."

"She's going to rip your mind apart." He warned, as he had before.

"I'd be more motivated by a tortured existence than a numb one." She lifted her chin, facing him head on. "I don't mean to sound ungrateful... you've just been trying to help protect me from her... but I'm sure I wasn't like this before. Do you want me to stay like this? I'm cold... little better than a robot..."

He had his mouth open to argue with her, but she stopped him.

"I just wanted you to have fair warning... I'm going to do this. I'm going to let her back in. I don't want to live, otherwise. Either you're right, and she'll destroy what's left of my brain... or I'm right, and she and I have to work together to make my mind work... Either way, something is going to happen. It's... your choice on whether or not you want to be here for it."

He blinked, seeing her resolve; he wasn't going to change her mind. She'd come to grips with the fact that she might've been on the verge of self-destructing... and he couldn't imagine living with what she was describing; being unable to feel. Honestly, if he were stuck the same way, separated from all the things that made life both amazing and horrific, he might just wanna do himself in too. In moments he came to that understanding, and he reached out for one of her clenched hands.

"You might not remember, but I promised I'd never leave you alone."

A small smile graced her face. "I'm glad your memory is better than mine."

* * *

><p><em>Just what are you, really? Who are you?<em>

The animal was as she had been for the past two months; behind a cage of iron bars, sectioned off to her own space within Loor's mind. The two kept limited contact with each other, spending almost no time in this room that Loor liked to call her mindscape. Most of their contact came through the dreams that Lyra thought of for Loor... the nightmares that she used to torture the girl while her subconscious allowed the bars of her cage to soften.

When Loor entered, making her demands, Lyra's head turned for her to hiss as her host. Her fanged maw opened to show all of her teeth in a menacing gesture. _**What do you care...? What difference does it make? **_

_I'm beginning to think it makes all the difference. _Loor had come rather close to the cage, looking at the broken monster. Lyra was at her weakest; eco depleted and holding little influence over the mindscape. She looked disheveled, laid out in a cage that was too small and forced her to crouch over if she ever choose to stand. _Who are you, Lyra? I want to know._

_**And what would you do with the information? **_ The sinister grin she wore faded into a bored yawn, the creature turning away from her host once more. **_You and I have already fought this war, and I have lost... You keep me trapped, silent in your head... What reason have I to speak to you now? I doubt you will give me anything for my cooperation. I will keep what few secrets I have left. _**

Loor had stopped next to the bars, staring at them. She could dispel with with a thought; a touch of her hand and they would vanish. All she had to do was make that decision. _You and I... aren't all that different, are we? Or perhaps we are different because we are two parts of the same... _

A rumbling growl came out from Lyra's form, her shoulders vibrating with the noise. Loor couldn't tell if she was laughing or, perhaps, getting as close as she could to crying. _**Parts, pieces of a whole... split apart by this incredible substance I now live off of. Possible, almost so possible it might be true... what do you care, child? You live without me now, suppressing me to the best of your ability. You cannot control me, so you do your best to pretend I do not exist. You can't destroy me, so you hide me... from yourself and others. **_

_So you are me. _Loor stated, the words passing with a feeling of two puzzle pieces coming together. _You and I... we were one in the same. The same girl, once upon a time. _

**_That... _**The animal laughed, a guttural purr that wavered in volume. **_Was quite a long time ago. _**

_Too long. _

Loor took one last step, brushing her fingers on the cage. It faded, breaking into flakes of color that floated away on an invisible breeze.

_**You don't fear what I might do to you...? You've trapped me for so long...**_

The animal hadn't moved.

_You punched me first. Let's call it even and try again. I need you too much to ignore you._

The movement was fast, almost too fast to see. Lyra was on her feet, her body still hunched over at the strain of being active while the body they shared was so low on eco. Still she pushed, taking the steps needed to look Loor in the face, her upper lip drawn back to show her teeth. It was undecided on whether it was a smile or a grimace. _**Need me? What would you need me for? I gunk up your logical mind, I remember that. You hated me for that. I made you think about the unwanted things, or things you couldn't admit you wanted. You hated me. Even when we were one in the same, you didn't ever want me to exist. **_

_Just because I don't want you, doesn't mean I don't need you. _Loor had no fear, nor hesitation. _I don't remember that life... and I can't feel this one. _

**_You... _**Black eyes narrowed, and Loor could feel Lyra's confusion flowing off of her in waves. The animal was a mass of emotional responses; everything that Loor had been missing since she blocked her out. **_Want to feel it? _**

Loor raised her chin slightly, bearing her throat in what she knew was a symbol of surrender to the animal.

_I need to._

* * *

><p><em><strong><strong>_**The Author's Corner**

****Uhhh... Hi everyone. :D Yeah, another chapter. Let's keep rolling, right?

Right.

-Loor


	13. Invasion

**I do not own Jak and Daxter, Jak 3, or any other copy-written property mentioned in the course of this fanfiction. It is for entertainment purposes only. Loor and Lyra belong to me, do not steal. Do not use without permission. **

**Vacation or War-Endgame  
><strong>**Chapter Thirteen- Invasion**

Daxter found himself skittering back into Loor's hospital room when he heard her letting off a short and guttural scream. He'd been considering sneaking back in, curious on what Loor needed to talk about with Jak on his lonesome, but respecting his friends' privacy until he heard that sound. In a moment he'd jumped up to grab the knob on the door, swinging it back open and dashing in, making a leap for the bed spread. "What happened?" He asked before he even got there, looking up at the teenaged couple once he was on his feet next to Loor's knees.

Loor was holding her head, looking like she'd just been struck. Her eyes were wide, mouth slightly open in shock, her nose flared as she panted a little. Jak had one hand half-way reached out to her, hesitating on actually touching her and then pulling back as he looked to Daxter.

Jak looked just as lost on what exactly had just happened. Still, he moved to try and explain.

Only to get cut off as Loor began to laugh. It was a nervous giggle at first, shaky as her fingers knotted in her hair. She swallowed, drawing in a long breath only to let it out through a grin, meaningless laughter coming out of whatever she'd just gone through.

"Eh... Loor?" Daxter was looking a tad creeped out as she continued snickering, getting most of the hysterics under control but still unable to stop. "You okay sweetie?"

"Okay?" She questioned it herself, hands sliding out of her hair and briefly over her face before she put them down on the blanket. She wasn't sure if that was the right word for it. It could have been, but at the same time it seemed to fall woefully short of describing how she felt. She'd entered her mind with a purely logical mind, looking at the world around her without emotional attachment.

And then she'd welcomed Lyra back in. The beast gave her back her ability to feel.

And now she looked around the room she was in; the sparse hospital room, and laughed in relief. A smile spread from ear to ear as she realized she was alive. Who cared if her brain was broken, the city on the verge of war, and the rest of the world was trying to fall apart? She was alive. She could still keep living.

She could keep trying.

Finally, the insane giggling stopped. She took air in, feeling it touch the bottom of her lungs and letting it go. "Oh man... I'm great, Dax."

"You sure?" Jak asked, giving her an intense look. It contained a question; he wanted to know if she'd actually done it, and if it had worked out the way she wanted it to.

She nodded at him, feeling as if her grin grew wider when she looked at him. She hadn't realized how cute he was before. She felt the compulsion to hug him, but ignored it for the moment. "Positive. It's not perfect... but it's better than it was. Better by a mile."

"Why'd you scream?" Daxter pressed, looking between the two of them. He seemed to be picking up some of the signals, and it had confusion on his fuzzy mug. "What were you two doing?"

Loor felt herself briefly at a loss, forcing her eyes away from Jak's face and back to Daxter. She couldn't believe it took an intervention from Lyra for her to notice just how pleasing he looked. Had she been ignoring him all this time? She felt shame on her face, along with a warm run of blush across her cheeks. "Uh... I hit myself." She lied, somewhat lamely. Still, she'd already put it across, and started building on it before the look Dax was giving her got any stranger. "I sorta felt like... I didn't need to be alive. Jak and I were arguing, I got sick of the thoughts bouncing around my brain, so I just gave myself a good whack."

At first it looked as if Daxter might not have believed her, since he frowned, but that wasn't the case. "Jeez, Loor. You already have brain damage! Don't hit yourself, or you're gonna mess yourself up more. I mean... glad it worked for you and all, but I'm sure there's better ways to remind yourself life is worth living. Ask Jakkie-boy, I'm sure he'd be willing to help."

Loor nodded a little, ducking her head. "I'm sorry... on the upside I feel a lot better. I must have knocked something loose."

"Yeah, _something." _The ottsel rolled his eyes. "If you ever laugh like that again, I'm running. That was freakin' creepy."

* * *

><p>Finally allowed to leave the hospital and entering the palace, Loor got the feeling of 'prison' more than she got the idea of 'safe house.' There were FL guards at every doorway, giving her, Jak, and Daxter sideways glances every time they passed by. They had an almost constant escort of at least three people, regardless of where they wandered within the building. With a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach, Loor realized she was probably right. They weren't being protected from the city here; they were being held until judgment was passed down from on high.<p>

And they'd walked in willingly.

"We didn't even do anything..." She muttered, a moment of sweet solitary coming as the three of them entered the elevator. Jak seemed to think there was something of interest for them on the top floor, and she didn't care enough to ask about it right now. Her mind was preoccupied with what would happen if the city decided all of this _was_ their fault. "What will they do to us?" She asked, picking at the hem of her shirt; a sandy-colored sleeveless that fitted loosely. She usually wore a combat vest under it, but she didn't even have her weapons with her. The hospital had sent all of her field gear back to the FL, and now they were suspended.

_Suspended. _She rolled that word around in her head. Why? Even if the city blamed them for whatever was going on, there was no denying that Haven needed every man it could get on the ground. Agriculture had been lost, the bazaar had been cleared out to use as a war zone, blockades were barely holding, and scouts had reported that the metal heads were very quickly putting together what looked like siege weaponry; massive catapults that would fling great chunks of eco as massive bombs. This wasn't the time to be pointing the finger of blame; this was the time to fight back.

She smelled politics.

"Prison, probably." Jak's voice had taken a dark and ugly tone. "It's the city council deciding what to do with us... the same people who helped the Baron run this place."

"They'd lock us up?" The idea of prison struck a cord in her mind. Absently, Loor rubbed one of the many scars she'd found on her body after she'd woken up; the ugly tissue left behind on the inside of her left wrist. She only touched one, but all eight patches of old damage tingled, making her cringe. A ghost of a memory floated in her mind.

"Hey, we've got friends in the system now." Daxter encouraged as both of his partners took on glum expressions. The elevator finally started moving, sending them towards the top floors at a frightening pace. "C'mon, Ashelin will vouch for us, and she's the freakin' Baroness now, right? What about Torn, and the others? We've been good with the FL, done everything we were told."

"That won't matter." Loor muttered, still rubbing her wrist. "The people haven't fully accepted Ashelin's rule... the council may be a leftover from the Baron's time, but it's a leftover everyone is familiar with. They say jump, the city would probably _build_ a trampoline. Ashelin, on the other hand... she might as well be a little girl, yelling for all the adults' attention. And this, the argument over us, is about the people and the council's wish to appease them. Ashelin may fight for us because it's what's right, but the council is probably only in the argument for brownie points with the city."

She shook her head, squeezing the scar tissue. Both hands clenched into fists as the odd memory floating on the edge of her mind refused to solidify, but gave her one definite feeling.

She'd been in prison once. These scars, whatever they were, were left over from that.

She wasn't going back.

She looked up to Jak, the two of them exchanging a nod. She could see the look on his face; he'd endured horrors unspeakable during his time in the KG prison as well, and he could actually remember them. If the council handed down the order that they were to be incarcerated, yet again, they both had the same idea.

They'd rather run, rather die, than go back to that.

"Yuk... _hate_ politics." Daxter groused, not catching the look between his friends. "They'd be stupid to lock us up! We're the one that saved this city from Kor in the first place! We need to be out there, fightin' the good fight and getting to the bottom of this... not getting all mixed up in the ruling class's power plays."

The elevator stopped; they were at the top. "Well..." Jak let out a sigh as the doors opened. Yet another two boys in blue were standing there, armed and looking to make sure the three of them weren't up to anything. "At least we still have a couple friends."

The elevator for the top floor opened out onto the Palace's wrap-around balcony. Jak remembered it as the place where he first fought the Baron, but it was also an excellent vantage point to look down upon the city. Haven sprawled out beyond the stone railing, wind pulling at Loor's hair and making her glad that she'd gotten her red scarf back from the hospital staff; it was tied around her brow to keep her hair out of her eyes. The brisk tussle reminded her that she really needed to have the black cascade shortened; it was getting to be a nuisance.

Taming a few wilder strands back, she followed as Jak and Daxter took the lead, heading for the edge and someone who was standing at the railing, looking down towards agricultural.

There was a short man there, his skin making her squint and affirm the fact that it was, indeed, quite green. Oddly enough, this looked natural on him. White hair and wrinkles identified him as being quite old, depending on a staff to walk and shoes that looked like they were made out of small logs to be tall enough to look over the edge of the railing. He also had a log on his head, his white hair wrapped around it to keep it there.

Standing alone, he looked quite together. Within the industrial metropolis of Haven, he looked completely out of place, like he'd come from another time entirely.

"Samos." Jak greeted with smile familiarity in his voice, though he didn't smile at the old man.

His head turned to look at the approaching group, blinking behind crudely made glasses. "Jak my boy!" He returned the greeting with a little more enthusiasm, though it was curbed by the heavy and tense atmosphere. "And Loor. It's good to see you up and about again... quite a tumble you took; you're lucky the FL got to you in time."

"I know." She answered, not questioning how this little man knew her. Looking at him, she knew she recognized him from somewhere. The face made something inside her brain itch; at a glance she knew him to be both wise and a healer. "Nice of them to take all of my gear and then stick us in a building at the edge of a war zone." She added, not bothering to disguise the venom in her voice.

"Hey, Grandpa Green!" Daxter looked miffed that he hadn't been greeted, again. "What's going on down there? The wall still holding?"

"For the moment..." He hefted a sigh, looking back down into the city. Loor looked too; she could see agricultural from here, but not particularly well. Two long strips of greenery, broken up by a small section of the bazaar, making up most of the western wall's border. Still, the green looked a little different. Smog was drifting up from the city section. "The metal heads are quickly digging out the farming zones... they're infecting the soil and the plants, causing them to produce foul acids..." He shuddered, as if he could feel the torment of the plant life in the area. "It'll infect or kill what's already there, and start growing the tainted materials that they like to build their nests out of."

"They're building a nest? _Inside_ the city wall?" Daxter was appalled and disgusted.

Samos nodded sadly, a tight frown on his face. "It'll start infecting the forest soon enough; even if we do manage to hold them back, I don't know how we're going to clean that area back out. It'll be like a virus, spreading from one living thing to the next."

"One step at a time." Jak suggested. "We've purified plants before, right Samos?"

"Yeah, but we had to do it all at once..." Daxter mused. "Otherwise they all got infected again an' we had to start over."

Loor blinked, wondering what they were talking about. A dim image came to mind... but all she could think of was some kind of TV screen. What did infected plants have to do with a TV? She dismissed it with a shrug, her eyes searching the skyline and beginning to follow the edge of the balcony, walking away from the others. South Town looked quiet from such a distance, though she knew for a fact it was buzzing with activity. The whole city was. Civilians were taking cover as the FL claimed the streets, tense and ready for an assault at any time.

Everyone knew the wall wasn't going to hold. It would only be a matter of time before the metal heads broke through it or started flinging things over it.

She kept wandering, looking down into the industrial section. She remembered the sections of the sewer she'd traveled through; she never realized Haven had such a massive network of pipes and such under it. She wondered if the metal heads had been effectively locked out of those areas; if not they wouldn't have to go through the locked down city checkpoints; they could just go under them.

Now facing east, she looked up a little. She'd gotten quite a little distance from the others, not able to hear whatever conversation they were having anymore. Did it matter? She got the horrible feeling that it didn't. The city was in trouble, and they couldn't do anything to help...

Because the city was afraid of them.

She felt angry for that. Angry enough that it caused a sensation in her body; the hot flow of energy that made her fists clench. People were so stupid in large groups. It took a single person to be smart, but a large group to make a difference, a sad catch twenty-two of the human race.

If only a single person, or a small group, could make all the difference. That was Jak; he was just one guy and he'd made a huge difference. To her, to this city, to everything. She was just one person, and she was told she'd made a difference.

That's what this city needed, and they were refusing it.

"Dumb asses..." She muttered dully, coming out of her thoughts to continue looking down at the city. She squinted to see the wall on the east face; it looked so tiny while it was so far away.

Which is why she blinked when she thought she saw something move, cursing when she did. Whatever she'd seen, she'd lost it when she blinked. Still, she was sure she'd seen _something_ out there. What was it? Frantically, her leaned on the railing while trying to see.

There! She _did_ see something; a gray splotch that at first looked like the wall was growing an extra piece... but later turned out to be a different object entirely. It was further out than the wall, moving lazily towards the sky like an accidentally released balloon.

But it was getting bigger.

Moving closer.

Turning away from the sight, she dashed back to where the others were. "Jak! Guys!" She shouted long before she actually made it, panting a little and pointing back to where she'd come from. "I... I think something is happening over here! C'mon!"

Jak started walking, asking the question as they were on the move. "What is it?"

She couldn't keep it at a wall, both of them breaking into a jog. "Something is coming from beyond the wall. It's really far away, but it looked like it was getting bigger-!"

She briefly stopped talking as Samos passed the two of them; he looked as if he were levitating, his stubby legs slightly bent as his eyes focused on east-ward. She blinked, nearly stumbling but managing to keep her balance.

"Does he do that often...?" She muttered as the little green man arrived at her vantage point long before they did.

"Do what?" Daxter asked, not seeming surprised about anything.

"... never mind."

"What in green tarnation...?" Samos was now squinting his own eyes at Loor's mystery spot in the sky. In a moment his free hand was occupied with a comm. unit, making a connection. "Torn, we have an unknown flying object approaching over the east wall."

"_What?" _Torn's gruff voice was slightly more irritated than usual. He must have been organizing ground forces. _"Shit, Ashelin, do we anything on the scope..?" _There was pause and some commotion. Whatever they were seeing here, it must have just shown up on the locational grid. _"What the-? Where did that thing come from?" _

"I take it they see it..." Loor muttered, she and Jak skidding to a stop behind Samos.

Granted, it was kinda tough _not_ to see it.

Ashelin's voice came over the link now. _"We've got more than that thing, we just had a breech on the east wall! Damnit, there's another one! Torn, start re-directing our forces to industrial and the slums. I'm getting the cruiser- we need an eye in the sky." _

Shocked looks were exchanged as the link with Torn and Ashelin, for the moment, went dead. A breech in the east wall? Loor was looking again, trying to see what was going on at such a distance, but it was impossible.

That is, until a section of the wall shook with a distant yet deafening boom.

"We're being invaded." Loor muttered, watching as the same event happened twice more. Explosive charges were being set off within the wall; the breech had probably been the ground-level air-locks. Fill the room inside the wall with explosives, and it would be a lot like setting off a fire cracker inside a soda can. Most particularly, that both ends tended to explode out.

She briefly remembered she really liked soda.

* * *

><p><strong>The Author's Corner<strong>

Though I usually call it pop. XDD

Not gonna talk much because I've gotta go to work. I love you all for your wonderful reviews! :D

Oh, and in case you guys still haven't done it...

**CHECK OUT MY FUCKING DEVIANT ART ACOUNT FOR CRYING OUT LOUD. It's got artwork to do with this story, news on what I'm up to with all of my creative projects, and so on and so forth. loorthedarkelf DOT deviantart DOT com. **

Meow.

-Loor


	14. A Shadow of Doubt

**I don't own Jak and Daxter. I love Jak and Daxter, Jak II, Jak 3, and I even enjoyed Jak X. BUT being a fan of something does not give me ownership nor creative say over it... so I just write fanfiction, and it pleases me. :) **

**Oh, one more note here: **We are finally starting to follow a few of the canon events of Jak 3, and you guys might notice now and again that I've edited little bits of dialog. These are NOT mistakes; there were parts of the Jak 3 script that just sounded so blunt/silly that they broke me out of the game while playing, and they sound even weirder in writing VoW because I play the whole damn thing serious and straight-faced. THUS, for my purposes, editing has been done. I mean no disrespect to the game nor it's original script, it simply wasn't the flavor I could work with.

**FUCK TLF. :[ **

**FUCK IT UP THE ASS.**

**WITH.**

**A.**

**RAZOR.**

**LACED.**

**DILDO. **

**MEOW.**

**Vacation or War-Endgame  
><strong>**Chapter Fourteen- A Shadow of Doubt**

The gray splotch in the sky had become a building, no, a group of buildings on some sort of massive foundation. Structures of steel, later made out to bare red stripes of paint as a proud identifying flag. This vehicle, this small city in the sky, as a KG creation. Loor had watched it's slow but sure assent over the east wall, and then it's gentle drift into it's final place; looming above the industrial section. She'd stared at first, and then begun pacing as Samos made contact with Torn, finding out about the breach in the east wall.

The report from their friends wasn't good; they were being invaded, but not by flesh-and-blood soldiers. Mechanical monstrosities had set upon the city, breaking through the walls and quickly seizing the industrial section and everyone still unlucky enough to be in it.

She tripped over herself when the palace suddenly shook with a massive boom coming from below, the metal structure ringing with an impact that made her regain her composure quickly, rushing to the edge to look around widely, searching for the source of the shock-wave. "What the hell was that?" She demanded, though she knew her present company probably didn't know.

"It didn't come from this side." Samos noted, quickly moving to return to his original look-out point over agricultural on the west side. Jak hesitated to follow, waiting for Loor to get in front of him. Daxter looked tense, his fur standing up along his spine as he hung onto Jak's shoulder armor.

"The metal heads have completed a catapult!" Samos reported into his communicator before the teens and ottsel caught up with him, having levitated himself faster than they could jog after him. "The palace is under attack!"

"_So's the rest of the city!" _Torn shouted back through the link._ "Might as well sit tight; the palace isn't going to go over after just one or two hits." _

"That's our comfort?" Loor didn't look impressed, snarling as she made it to the wall around the balcony just in time to cling to it, another rough impact hitting the palace and rocking it. Jak was at her back, grabbing her shirt like a cat's scruff and bringing her away from the edge, like he didn't trust it not to fall apart. She tossed him a look that wanted to be either grateful or angry, but she couldn't make up her mind and just ended up raising her brows without knowing what she meant to say with it.

"Report!" Samos demanded of Torn, his and everyone else's eyes locked onto the ground below. Activity could be seen in the streets, despite the distance. Industrial was out of sight, but agricultural was no slouch for activity either. Several bright flashes on the ground made Loor wonder if the gates were beginning to fail, once again releasing the metal menace into the city. Still, all the activity stayed concentrated at those bottlenecks between the city sections, and she let her eyes stray back towards the east side.

She could see the northern end of industrial, where it connected to the slums. Smoke was rising from various places, explosions occasionally rocking the section and making her eyes jerk to a particular building. She felt growing concern; the city was already crippled with agriculture both taken over by and tainted by the metal heads. Without industrial they would be without the ability to manufacture new weapons and armor. Whoever was attacking them had to know which areas were sensitive.

But if their invaders were from the inside, why attack from the outside? If those colors were any indication, the invading force belonged to the KG rebels.

As did the floating section of city now hovering above Haven.

Why go to all the effort? Why not simply attack from the inside? Were they avoiding something? The only thing that had happened in the last twenty-four hours had been the metal head incursion, but the KG couldn't have known about-

Loor headed herself off in her own thoughts, about to pursue that avenue of thought when Torn's gruff and angry voice finally came back through Samos's communicator. _"It's bad!" _He snapped, as if that should have been obvious... which it was. "_The city's become a battle field! Mechanized bots have taken over the industrial section completely, and the surviving metal heads have expanded their hold on the west side. We're losing ground on __**all**__ fronts!" _

As if to punctuate that statement, the palace suffered another shock. Loor instinctively took another step back and looked for something to steady herself with. She was suddenly quite uncomfortable with being up so very high in the air.

Ashelin's voice came over the same connection; she and Torn hadn't left each other's sides since the invasion began. _"The council is meeting tonight in emergency session." _

"You're kidding me!" Loor snapped, not letting Ashelin complete whatever she was going to say. "The city is getting veritably ripped apart and those idiots wanna argue about two lives when they should be worrying about a couple ten-thousand? How about the last civilization on this planet?"

"_I don't get a say in what they do!" _Ashelin snapped back, just as frustrated. _"I'm lucky I even get to know. They think you two let the metal heads into the city, because of your old friendship with Krew. Knowing their position, and the outcry of the people... this isn't going to end well." _

Jak had a twisted look on his face. Pained. "You don't believe that, do you?" He asked, both to Ashelin and all present company.

Samos shook his head, as if to disregard the whole situation. "What's in the past is done." He spoke quickly, cleverly dodging the question. "Right now, metal heads are assaulting the palace. They're looking for something, and I have no idea-"

Another shock wave; this one was more violent. Loor grabbed Jak's arm, spreading her feet as it was followed quickly by another heavy impact. A third hit, booming against the metal exterior of the palace and shattering the panoramic glass of the viewing deck below them, made Loor nearly topple over. Jak caught her, but she had the distinct feeling as if she weren't quite standing straight.

Dax realized it first as an odd feeling hit her stomach; a certain weightlessness.

"Heeeelp!" The ottsel turned his head towards Samos's communicator; Ashelin and Torn were currently in a cruiser, using it to get a birds-eye of the battle. "WE'RE FALLING!"

The world seemed to tip, the lopsided feeling making Loor lean back on her heels to try and keep her own perspective upright. Knees bent, she wanted to cover her ears as the building squealed it's protest, as well as the towers that supported it's lofty ambition to be so top-heavy and stay upright. A sharp and sudden drop made her want to scream or run, or both, as the connection between the uppermost floors and the rest of the building shattered. Jak had her shoulder, his knees slightly bent as well but not with the want for balance; no, his was the desperate need to react. To do _something. _

His eyes focused out to the sky, spotting a similarly desperate rescue on it's way. His voice raised over the dying screams of the building, breaking into a run towards both the lowest part of the balcony and their only hope; a FL cruiser piloted by Torn. Ashelin was in the passenger seat, but there was plenty to hang onto otherwise. "OVER HERE!" He commanded to Samos, since Daxter was on his shoulder and he's practically dragged Loor over, still holding onto her. "JUMP!"

Seconds seemed to stretch, Loor remembered a stolen glance to one of the support towers; the palace had pulled the tethers on the far side tight, their decent paused for that gut-churning moment when they all jumped for the cruiser; Torn was still on the approach, both craft and people aiming for the same patch of air and hoping they all got there at the same time. Hands outstretched, she was forced to look away from that terrifying sight of the palace being held up by three massive tethers on the south-east corner and focus on trying to save her own life.

Her eyes also dropped down; there was nothing under her. The balcony jolted down again, 40 degrees away from being vertical and several feet behind the jump she'd taken. The city was beneath her. Streets, buildings, walls, and the carnage of the invasion. Explosions, bright gunshots in the shadows, smoke. For a moment she felt as if it had all stopped.

Then her vision was replaced with blue metal; the skin of the FL cruiser. Her body hit hard, and her hands tightened into claws around something that felt like a leather head-rest. She looked up to find Ashelin looking back, her green eyes wide and red hair whipping. Another weight hit, landing on top of Loor; Jak had jumped after her and landed on top of her. One of his hands secured on her shoulder, the other on the lip of the cock-pit. She had the feeling of a much smaller hand, Daxter's, wrapping up in her hair. Finally, Samos seemed to appear between Torn and Ashelin; it didn't matter if the middle piece wasn't meant to be a seat, the old man would take it.

Jak's weight shifted; she felt one of his knees hitting the outside of the cruiser, hard, between her splayed legs. The hand that held her shoulder now dove under her arm, trapping her and dragging them up both up to take a better grip as Torn accelerated away from the collapsing building. She slid a little with the motion, her fingers screaming in protest of supporting all of her weight against the g-force, but she realized Jak had moved to trap her between his body and the ship; he was acting as a seat belt for her while holding himself on.

She also felt several painful jolts, realizing she practically had an ottsel braided into her hair. Daxter had burrowed himself in to hang on with all of his limbs, abandoning Jak's shoulder for the moment.

Heart hammering against her ribs, Loor turned her face back to watch as the first support cable snapped; the southern-most tower managed to stay upright but the cable attached had ripped away.

The other would soon follow; steel cords stretching and creaking before loosing unbearable sound while snapping apart. The noise was terrifying, like the scream of a beast from hell, caught in eternal torment and forever hunting for others to force that same pain upon.

She dropped her head, concentrating on bettering her grip as Torn turned the cruiser back towards the FL to put it back on the ground.

* * *

><p>FL HQ was impressive; Loor remembered thinking that when she'd first seen it completed; an impressive building in New Haven; a crown jewel of new construction. Tall, imposing, powerful, it was Ashelin's new fortress of power. And yet, it was comforting in a way, it fit in this city; it wasn't oppressing the people, it was working with them. But she had to wonder; why did she think of it that way? Had she seen another place that was oppressive to the people? The palace wasn't... and yet, she knew there had been a place that looked out of place, somewhere in the city, for the purpose of frightening those around it.<p>

She couldn't remember... surprise there.

Regardless, FL HQ still looked impressive as ever, despite the fact that she and Jak were being escorted by armed guards to it's entrance. They were still waiting for the council's judgment, and until then they were suspend, and thus basically civilians. That was disturbing for her; this place that was meant to be the wave of a new and wonderful future, and she was being held prisoner in it's bowels, waiting to see if the city was going to rid itself of her like a dog rids itself of a flea. Her _and_ Jak, she reminded herself. They were together in this. He was right next to her, also under several guns as they were walked into the elevator.

Up was the command center; military only.

Down was the barracks; also a military space, but slightly less sensitive. It was a good enough holding space, and would make due until the council met and made a decision.

Dread surrounded whatever that decision could possibly be.

Dread, and curiosity. Loor couldn't help it; watching Jak this whole time. Looking for cues. She was angry; she didn't even remember what had happened before. She felt blameless in all of this; the city was attacking her when she'd done nothing, or at least didn't remember doing anything.

But Jak. He knew. He remembered.

What if their punishment was just? What if this impending judgment was both right and true? Who was Krew? What had _he_ done to earn the city's hate? Why had they been friends with him?

The barracks, a long room of sparse cots and lockers, left them alone. She decided now as a good as time as any to ask.

Jak, on the other hand, was the first to speak.

"Dax." He didn't even look, didn't even turn his head to his fuzzy partner on his shoulder. "I want you to go."

"Eh?" Dax was still putting himself back in order; getting himself out of Loor's hair had taken more time than expected and ruffled all of his fur into funny directions. "What are you talking about, Jak?"

"If the worst happens... if the city decides to..." He didn't complete the thought. "I don't want you getting stuck with us. You're innocent. Get out of here."

"Jak...?" Daxter shook his head. "No. I'm your friend, I'm not-"

"Dax!" Jak snapped, his face turning to an angry glower. "Go."

The ottsel stared for a second, becoming hurt. His ears dropped as he ducked his head down, leaning forward and trying to get Jak to look at him properly, but he wouldn't. Jak's eyes had turned dark as a tight frown covered his face, his gaze turning away from Daxter at the ottsel looked to gain attention and possibly an explanation beyond the one that Jak had already given.

Slowly, the ottsel dropped down to the floor. He still looked up at Jak, trying to reason with him without words. After getting no results, he turned his gaze upon Loor, as if she could do what he obviously couldn't.

She didn't know what to say, so she said nothing, looking down.

Slowly, with all the reluctance, the ottsel went for the door. He'd be allowed out; the guards wouldn't bother with him.

"What is the worst they can do to us?" Loor asked, staring at Jak as the door clunked shut behind his pint-sized friend. "What... just how severe are the crimes they're accusing us of?"

"They'll throw us out. The city is safe, the world outside isn't... though the city isn't safe either right now... Either way, Dax doesn't deserve that."

She frowned, biting her lip. Jak looked like a caged animal; dangerous. He was tense, still charged up from their escape from the palace. Still, she needed to know.

"Do we...? Do we deserve what they might do?"

Surprise broke his expression for a moment. "What?"

"I don't remember, Jak. I don't know what we've done... I only have your word to go on. That's okay, I trust your word. but you haven't given it to me on this just yet... do we deserve what they might give us? Did we do any of this...? Did we _cause_ this?"

"No!" He answered at once, shaking his head. "We destroyed Kor, the Baron died, and Ashelin took over and dismantled the KG. We did everything to save this city."

"But what else happened? Who's Krew?"

Jak blinked, as if he never realized the implications of her loss; just how much of her mind was missing. Eventually, he picked a cot and sat down on it, weaving his fingers together. "Just... just a second. Lemme get it straight how to say it, and I'll give you the short version."

She nodded slightly, coming over to sit across from him. She had a suspicion that the short version... might still be pretty long.

* * *

><p><strong>The Author's Corner<strong>

Hiii dudes... in case you didn't get the memo, I'm on vacation. Yeah, visiting the grandparents in Florida. Awesome sauce, but I finished this chapter on the plane and... well, what do you guys care that I'm updating when I shouldn't be working? XP

Back to the pool for me!

-Loor


	15. Banishment

**I do not own Jak and Daxter. I cannot and will not publish this story for profit; this work is for entertainment purposes only. And hell, you gotta agree it's at least doing that right. :) **

**Well, it's entertaining ME, that's for sure. **

**Vacation or War-Endgame  
><strong>**Chapter Fifteen- Banishment**

Jak had taken his time in getting his head together. Loor had sat, watching him, waiting for him to speak and wondering just what she would hear. The look on Jak's face was conflicted; eyes narrowed under a furrowed brow as his lips took on a hard line. Sometimes it looked as if that expression would morph towards rage, other times into regret. Finally he closed his eyes, taking on the perfect picture of exasperation. He was exhausted by everything that had happened, looking back at it only for her gain. She felt bad, making him thinking about a time that must have been so difficult.

And yet, she didn't tell him never mind. She had to know where her place was in this. Their place. What _had_ they done? If they were the heroes, saviors of the city, why were they being held and under such suspicion? Their monsters were obvious, but Jak had excellent restraint over the creature known as Dark. Living with him for the past two months she'd watched as he constantly gauged the amount of eco in his system, picking and choosing regular times to go outside of the city and blow it all on the local metal head population. Even if the city was aware of how they were effected, surely they had also noticed the control the man held over the beast?

Had she messed it up? Jak mentioned she had trouble with the concept of control, and she was getting to understand that. She and Lyra were intimately connected; she couldn't lock the monster out. They _had_ to work together, but in that she could feel the animal looking at her mind, probing her thoughts, possibly searching for weaknesses. There was an insatiable lust for freedom; Lyra wanted out. She would always want out.

"You had no part in this war."

She looked up when he suddenly spoke, having been contemplating her own boots while her doubts grew like an ugly monster in her brain.

"Huh?"

"You weren't even supposed to be here. You were doing everything you could to make sure things turned out okay. You weren't a solider, and you didn't want to be. I can't tell you who you were or where you came from, that's something you'll have to remember for yourself, but you were blameless in what happened to the city. You were just... tagging along with me to make sure everything went right. _You_ didn't do anything. Everything that happened... it was all me."

This revelation seemed to pain him.

"I was after revenge on the Baron of this city after two years of prison and torture. I got out; Dax came and helped me. Krew was a crime lord in south town; I did odd jobs for him so he would give me information and connections that would help me. I didn't care about what Krew was doing to the city until... until he already did it. I got him an artifact that allowed him to open up a door under the city and let the metals heads in for the original invasion. Didn't care why he wanted it, I just got it for him so he'd keep helping me."

His eyes finally came open. For some reason the shade of aqua seemed darker than usual. His gaze was dull as he reflected on the fact that the original invasion was, technically, his fault.

"We killed Krew, and Kor. The city drove the metal head forces out, and the city was saved... but I never thought about..."

The flat line of his lips resolved into a frown.

"Maybe I... I think I might have done it wrong..."

"No."

The dull glaze on Jak's eyes lifted as he looked to see Loor. Wrapped up in his own horrible thoughts, he hadn't been looking at her. Taking life wasn't a new thing to him, but remembered the bodies on the streets when he'd come back from the nest; thousands of innocents had died that night. To be made responsible for that... it was a blow to him that made him slightly sick. There had to have been some other way; that was his first thought. Some way that everything could have happened without that loss of life. When he thought about these things it brought him to the thought that maybe the city was right to hate him.

Right to toss him out like yesterday's garbage.

But she protested, staring at him with some shock in her own eyes. Her jaw hung slightly open, as if there was an itch going on in her brain that she was trying to scratch on sheer willpower, unable to claw at something within her own skull.

"There was only one way." She spoke with a strange finality. "I... there was a feeling, wasn't there? It happened sometimes. Made us all sick, happened when something was out of place... but how did I know? That wasn't there... ugh it's all fuckin' fuzzy..." She shook her head, near violently. "I... I wanted everything to go right. Everything had to go right. Horrible things had to happen, they _had_ to happen, so the war could end... but fuck how did I _know_ that?"

Her head bent, her moment of clarity lost to her muddled memory, hands coming up to her brow as she continued to curse eloquently.

Her words had sent a shock through him. She was right; more than she knew. She'd known the adventure; she'd been at his side to keep things on track as she'd known them. There had only been one way, one string of events that allowed the city to be saved. A very select sequence of disasters, from Krew's betrayal to his own flippancy about the precursor stone when he first found it, had led to that crucial moment when he, Dax, and Loor had been able to bust into the nest and take Kor out. The invasion had left the nest unguarded, and Kor over confident. This knowledge didn't truly absolve him of guilt for the lives lost during the metal head attack, but it did get him to stop second-guessing.

"Give it time." He gently advised her, watching her fingers curl, changing her hands into fists. With an oddly gentle touch he took her wrists and eased her knuckles away from her head; it looked like she was considering hitting herself again. "What did you remember?"

"Just..." She drew in a long breath, but it left her in a shudder. "An ugly feeling. Like the world was twisting, and I knew it meant something was wrong. How did _I_ know Jak? How could I-"

"I felt it too." He cut her off. "Whenever it happened, we all felt it. We never figured out exactly what it meant, but it was like a warning... haven't felt it since..." He thought about that memory, and decided not to mention it. "It's been a long time."

He thought about that fact. Nothing had felt wrong since these new events had began, which had to mean...

"Everything that's happening here is as it should be." He spoke with the same finality she had, though it was with a greater measure of surprise. The city _needed_ to do this to them?

Doubt was clear on her face. She wanted to ask more questions, demand her history from him, but knew he wouldn't budge. He'd made that clear in the past two months; he wasn't going to tell her about her own life. He was sure she wouldn't believe him if he tried. He wanted her mind to return on its own.

She suddenly got up, moving for the end of the row of cots, where a wall of lockers was arranged.

"What are you doing?" He asked, watching as she stepped with purpose.

"They took all my weapons, my body armor, even my holsters, when I was in the hospital." She snorted as he slowly stood up to follow her. "They woulda returned it here, wouldn't they? Torn gave us both lockers, even if we never show up here. I'm looking for my stuff. They'll probably take it all again if..." She trailed as she arrived at the wall of storage, searching out the locker that would be marked with her name. "I don't care. Even the empty holster would feel better than nothing."

* * *

><p>Loor's expectations were right on the money. Shortly after she found her equipment and got it all strapped back on with Jak's help, a small group of FL guards entered. Their weapons were drawn, their stance ready for the two of them to try and run or fight. Having her weapons back, Loor felt the urge to fight. A quick count revealed only five of them, and a space of at least 15 yards separated them in the long room.<p>

She glanced to Jak, who hadn't tensed at all. He was armed too, but he made no motion to resist what was clearly happening. He left his arms at his sides, relaxed and accepting in his body language. Only his face betrayed him; a seething and silent rage had found it's way onto his features, contained by the defeated look in his eyes.

Taking her cues from him she crossed her arms over her chest, keeping her hand a fair distance from the pistol on her leg.

The guards took this sign of surrender without a word, pushing their firing line forward, shortening the distance and increasing the tension of the silence in the room. Not a word had been said, and the doors clunked shut. They didn't stay that way for long, though. It seemed the moment they had latched that they were thrown open again. A sixth guard joined the party, escorting an impossibly tall and slightly balding man in a long blue riding coat. Wiry was a word for him, but it hardly seemed to do him justice.

A thought came out of Lyra's awareness of how easy it would be to snap such a man in half along the spine. Perhaps even rip out the spine, and then break it.

Loor tried to ignore that thought, but the more she examined him the more she felt he might actually deserve it. From the coat, to his buttoned vest, to the red swell of some kind of scarf tucked just below his neck, to his vulture-like face, everything about him screamed 'pompous, entitled, jerk-face'. He carried a baton-like piece of bronze that may have been a walking stick, but it was tucked under his arm with a sense of greater importance. In his other hand he held a book bound in red leather, which he also carried as if it were an object of some power or at least significance.

In moments they were forced to give up their effects, and not just their weapons. Comm. units as well, and all other personal items. Handing everything over, it was only seconds after that they were seized by the hands and restrained; thick squares of metal that slid together to cuff their hands, making bile rise in the back of Loor's throat as she felt her freedom being taken away.

She was lucky Lyra was so weak at the moment; the animal's screaming filled her ears and made her feel somewhat dizzy with the need to fight back. Had the creature any more strength, she might've attacked these men.

One part of her shrunk under such scrutiny. She saw all of those gun barrels, pointed at them, and wanted to sit on the floor and cry like a child. Another part of her, not Lyra, was in direct conflict and wanted her to start kicking and screaming. In moments she came to a decision between the two options that had very little to do with either extreme.

"What's happening? Who are you?" She asked of the tall man. She had meant to keep her voice small and respectful, but the strong tenor tone she tended to use when giving commands or shouting was one thing she couldn't hold back. Her need to act was greater than her fear.

The tall man, if only to cement her impression of him, made a face like she were some sort of creature with a disease; a lower life form that he could hardly bare to look at for how disgusting she was. He looked down on her and Jak, and it wasn't just because he was so tall. The quality of his eyes communicated that he thought them a couple of bugs, cockroaches, to be crushed under his boot. Then, with a snort, he gave a small wave to the guard who hadn't moved from his side.

At once, the guard introduced the tall man. "This is Count Veger of the Grand Council of Haven City. He's come to personally serve you two your sentence."

"Sentence?" Loor was shocked a verdict had come down so quickly, and without any input from them. Didn't they get a say in this? Stand trial, or something like that? Apparently not, because the look of everyone here was dead serious. Left with that, she had just one last question. "And what would that be?"

"Banishment."

* * *

><p>The word seemed to echo through Lauren's mind as she considered what it actually meant. <em>Banishment. <em>They were going to be ejected from the city, but it wasn't like they were just going to get kicked outside the walls with nothing but a shout of good-luck. No, she and Jak had been led from FL HQ by their metal restraints, and quite rudely shoved into a waiting transport to the nearest air train. Said train was going to take them not just out of the city, but off of the landmass that Haven called home.

Banishment meant they were being sent to the Wasteland. Hostile, desolate, and also where the metal heads used to call home base. They'd be dropped without weapons, though they'd been left with their empty holsters in some sort of teasing gesture.

She twisted her wrists in her restraints, feeling as if this whole thing were some kind of sick gesture. Arriving at and boarding the air train led to another surprise; Ashelin was waiting for them. Veger seemed surprised with this too, but he didn't deny the Baroness her right to 'see justice in action' as he put it. That was when Loor heard his voice for the first time, and it simply added to the fact that she really wanted to rip his face off and make him eat it.

Guards piled in on the benches within the air train, the prisoners left closest to the door as it shut and the vehicle took to the air.

She clenched her fists, looking at the metal square that held her wrists captive; it was locked electronically. If the air train encountered any problems, she imagined the lock would short in the case of a water landing and strand her without the use of her arms. The prisoners, she noted, would drown in that case. No skin off of the city's back, she was sure. Maybe that's why they were by the door; it looked like this Count Veger wouldn't mind simply 'losing' her and Jak in transit.

But Ashelin glared at Veger the same way Loor did; she didn't like what was happening here, and was likely here in at least a quiet protest. Perhaps she was looking for some sort of loophole where she could use her position as Baroness to overrule the judgment of the Council and bring her and Jak back home in one piece instead of leaving them to the wasteland.

Yeah, like _that_ was going to happen.

Abandoning looking at her captors and feeling her stomach lurch with the air train's none-too-graceful accent into upper air space, she looked to Jak. She hoped to get some comfort from that, but he was staring at his boots, an ugly look on his face. It didn't matter if they both knew this was the way it had to be, he was just as disgusted at being made prisoner as she was. Perhaps more so. If she remembered correctly he had a greater charge than she did right now; his animal would be more powerful, raging at the idea of being trapped or controlled. He was likely working to contain himself.

She didn't like that look on his face. The cabin otherwise silent from the roar of the engines, she pushed one boot across the floor and nudged his toe. The touch was soft, silent, but it got him to look up at her.

Aqua eyes were still dark with rage, she could see that. She imagined her own eyes were similarly darkened, but she offered the smallest of supporting smiles. For some reason, she felt like as long as she was with him, it was going to be at least kinda okay. As usual, despite everything, he made her feel safe. She wasn't scared of these guards, or even Count Veger. She felt a bond of trust that prevented such fear, and she tried to show that to him in that tiny upturning of the corners of her mouth.

He blinked, and nudged her boot back with a similar turn of his lips.

* * *

><p><strong>The Author's Corner<strong>

HI EVERYONE! So, re-reading some old chapters (I do that sometimes to try and avoid forgetting little details) I realize I never fully explained what happened with my rights to Alex.

Before she died, Alex and I made up and agreed that I could still write her character. She revoked my rights in the first place because she was worried Alex would become a childish and shallow character when I re-wrote Sammich for some reason, and instead of communicating that worry to me she just told me to fuck-off cause she was so stressed out about Navy stuff and so on. That would be about the time the second book saw a huge slow-down in chapters because I was trying to figure out what the fuck I did wrong, and then the two of us finally made up over a coffee date, because coffee is awesome.

It makes me really glad that she and I made up and left things on a good note. I'm still dealing with the loss, but I'm so happy that she and I were back to the way we began; seeing each other as sisters. She, Fury, and Me; the original trouble trio.

So yeah, that's what happened with that. I love you all, and again thank you all for your wonderful reviews. You've all been a god-send during this turbulent time. If I could I'd track you all down to hug you personally. :D

In the meantime, I'll just work on getting the updates out a little faster. That's almost as good as hugs, right?

Right.

-Loor


	16. Maybe

**I do not own Jak and Daxter. Sorry! **

**Quick note for the Vets; if you're a newer reader who never saw the original version of VoW, you can skip down to the next announcement... or read this anyway. Whatever fits your fancy: **As you wonderful old fans of the story might've noticed, this story has undergone more changes than the middle book did. We're on chapter 16 and we're just getting to the Wasteland for crying out loud. Why did this happen? Well, like the first book, detail is getting amped up. Like the second book, I'm taking a greater license with empty space. And like both books, **events are changing. **I hope you guys are as excited as I am for all of this, because you've got a big surprise coming that I'm (almost) sure you're all gonna love. So keep on your toes, this is a different ride than the last book.

**A NOTE FOR EVERYONE: **Hello, readers! How are we doing? Good? Good. We're currently enjoying a string of nice and steady-ish updates, but I wanted to give you all a little warning that there will likely be a break in that pattern in the near-ish future. See, in about a month and a half now **Loor will be moving. **Yes, I'll be packing my bags and leaving my home-sweet-home of Minnesota to take up residence in Connecticut. Why the change? Well, finally getting out of my parent's house for one. Also, I'm moving in with my husband. I know, holy shit, right? The months of **June and July and possibly even August** are going to be extremely turbulent for me as my hubby gets back on land, we tour apartments, set up a move-in date, and so on. Then, of course, we'll need to break in the apartment... hehehe... If you've been following the fic for a long time you know the breaks I tend to take when my lovely is around... **I don't actually know how long it's going to take for he and I to get used to living together and get back into the writing groove. **After high school the longest time we've spent with each other is slightly over a month. It's going to be... interesting. Very interesting.

**If you wanna keep up with shit as it develops, feel free to find me on Facebook. **Lauren Chalupnik (New last name, lol.) is the name. It's my only account, I don't have a segregate for fans, but if I know you're a VoW fan I'll know to specifically tag you on writing-related posts. Also, when the move happens, you'll be able to see all the pictures I take along the way! So yeah, feel free to add me, and even shoot me a message if you're feeling bored.

**HOKAY! Now that all of that crap is out of the way...**

**ON**

**WITH**

**THE **

**FIC!**

**OWTF! **

**Vacation or War-Endgame  
><strong>**Chapter Sixteen-Maybe**

The air train ride had taken several hours, though Loor didn't know exactly how many. All she knew as that they'd taken off in the evening; and now the sun was rising as they dropped in over a landmass instead of the endless ocean they'd been cruising over for what seemed like an eternity. She was sure there was some sort of time difference going on; she didn't feel like she'd been sitting for so long that it could have become the next day. All she did know for sure is that she saw sand, mountains, and cacti whipping by. The Wasteland was a great big sandbox that they sped over for the better part of another hour before reaching what seemed like a designated drop-point. It gave her the idea that this was a large island, too big to orient oneself from what little she'd seen. The window off of the back of the aircraft showed her nothing but yellow-white sand and a brightening sky.

She felt a frown tightening on her mouth. They might as well have shot her and Jak back in the city. This was not a place that was meant to be survived. This was a place for people to be forgotten; a place for them to die.

She felt her sore arms tensing, a brief and fruitless attempt at forcing her wrists out of her restraints. Her jaw clenched as the craft landed and the door opened, letting in a savage wind and uncomfortable heat, despite the early hour.

The guards behind them picked up their weapons, commanding that they stand and move, forcing them out when their stiff legs didn't comply fast enough. Jak received a gun-butt to the head to encourage him, she ducking and wincing as her knees protested a quick-witted dodge to avoid the same treatment.

Veger stood up last, escorting Ashelin out and standing at his full and considerable height. The book in his hand came open, being at the exactly right page for him to read out a declaration of sorts. "For heinous crimes against the people, you both are hereby banished to the Wasteland for life." He intoned, seeming as if he were trying and failing to keep a smile off of his face. No, not a smile, a sneer. A knowing grin that they were going to die out here, and he was all too damn pleased with it.

Loor had her teeth gritted together again, harder this time. She wished she had more eco in her system; she wanted to break these cuffs apart and attack him. He was getting under her skin, and he seemed to know it. He was looking at her, seeing the hate on her face, and she swore she saw his smile grow. A connection was made, and she tried to make him feel her unbridled hostility. If it were possible, she wanted her gaze to kill him.

"This is a death sentence, Veger!" Ashelin snapped, glaring as the tall man snapped the leather bound book shut. "You can't do this to them-"

"Your protest was overruled!" The Count snapped back at his Baroness, his smile dropping within a second. "These freaks are not only dangerous, but are two of a kind... leaving them within the city only invites a greater disaster. Dark eco cannot be controlled; their diseased race would spread. Now drop the cargo!"

"This is an outrage!"

All eyes snapped back to the air-train before Ashelin could try and plead any more with Veger, sudden loud and brash words coming from the open air train. Jak seemed to experience a small shock, but Loor felt herself questioning if the heat had already getting to her; there seemed to be a colorful creature inside the air train that was half monkey, half bird... and it was talking. "I am outraged beyond words!" He declared, at least she assumed it was a he. She wasn't going to question it any further than appearances at this point. No one else seemed particularly disturbed that this animal was talking. "Although I do have something to say... No everyone agrees with this ridiculous-"

A second animal suddenly dropped down from an open ceiling panel from within the air train, revealing the bird's hiding place. They must have tucked up within the wiring of the air train's electronics. The bird-monkey squawked as an orange rodent landed on him, his feathers standing up as he moved aside for none other than Daxter to stand as tall as he could and cross his arms over his fuzzy chest. "... Decree." He finished, looking at Daxter with a particular dislike.

"Yeah!" Daxter spoke with his usual bravado. "We want a recount!"

Veger had turned, and took on a dangerous expression. "Oh, so I see you wish to join them."

"Eh..." The bird seemed to shrink at the thought of being banished as well. Loor wondered if he, as an animal, even had a citizenship that could be revoked. "We are not _that_ outraged. Good luck you two! Stay out of the sun! Drink lots of water, if you can find it..."

Daxter's ears had fell as he briefly glared at the back-peddling bird, turning back out and looking at his friends. He dropped to his hands, looking like an inquisitive animal sniffing around for a friendly face or smell. "...Jak?" His voice was much like the time before, when Jak had told him to leave the first time. A raging loyalty was there; a bond of brothers.

"Go back to the city, Dax." Jak's tone was rough, but Loor couldn't believe that Jak was being callous; he wanted to protect Daxter from this fate. There was no use of them all dying. Daxter still had plenty to live for.

Daxter winced at those words, standing back up like a biped and the look on his fuzzy face becoming uncharacteristically hard. Loor saw the ottsel move within the air train, but her attention was taken as Ashelin approached to release them from their bounds with an electric key; it was time to let them loose in the wasteland and leave them behind. She looked rather upset, green eyes narrowed.

"I'm sorry." She muttered. "There was nothing I could do, the council-"

"That idiot is drunk on power." Loor snarled, watching Veger over Ashelin's head. She wanted him to hear her. "Can't you get rid of him?"

"Not currently." The redheaded woman let out a terse sigh, turning to release Jak next. "The people aren't willing to see me as a leader yet... as long as he has their support I'm little more than a puppet. I am sorry, I _tried_ to stop them-"

Jak cut her off yet again, giving her a sharp look as he massaged his newly freed wrists. "We know." He assured.

She glanced back, a quick movement of her head that was hardly more than a twitch to make sure she was standing between Veger and Jak, suddenly forcing something into his hand and making him fold his fingers into a fist over it. "Just stay alive. Both of you; someone _will_ find you, I promise."

Then, just as suddenly, she turned around to move for the air train. Veger and the guards were already loaded up, and the ship barely waited for her to board before taking off, the door shutting after it had already taken to the air, sending up a cloud of high-velocity sand as it gained the proper speed to maintain and gain height. Loor at once covered her eyes, nose, and mouth with her arms to defend from the stinging grains. Even if her reaction was timely, she ended up coughing through the cloud of dust.

She was surprised when she heard more than Jak's echoing reaction. There were two more voices. As soon as it was safe she looked up, staring at where the train had been... to where two creatures still were.

Daxter and the strange monkey-bird had stayed behind. Perhaps Veger had forced them off, or they'd chosen to stay. Well, more than likely Daxter decided to stay and the other creature probably got dragged along. Daxter was good at that. Still, Loor had to question outloud. "Dax?"

"What?" The ottsel was shaking sand out of his fur. "Surprised I'd hang around, sweetie?" He laughed, as if to spite the danger all four of them were now in. "You two wouldn't last a second without me, and we all know it."

"Daxter..." Jak sounded like wanted to scold his friend, but there was also a restrained and surprised smile on his face. Dax always stuck by him.

"Hey, you got us into this mess, tough guy!" Daxter reproached him. "Now it's your job to get us out! Hey, Bent Beak, didn'tcha have a message for Loor or something?" The ottsel had gone from yelling at Jak to yelling at the strange creature that was currently standing next to him. "Onin was going on about something when I nabbed you..."

"Aside from sending me from her service for this..." The more colorful pint-sized creature seemed rather upset with the current turn of events.

"Onin?" Loor blinked, the name tickled something in her head, but not enough to trigger a new wash of memory.

"Oh right!" Dax nearly smacked himself in the head for being forgetful. "Pecker, the lady don't remember you, just like the rest of us."

"Now is hardly the time for introductions." Loor decided. "Whatever this message is, it can wait. Unless one of you two has any useful information about this place, it's time to shut up and start walking."

"Which way?" Jak asked pointedly.

"_That way!" _

Both animals had spoken at the same time, pointing in opposing directions.

"Oh, so I suppose you know where you're going, eh?" Pecker, if that was indeed his name, turned upon Daxter and glared.

"Better than you do, Bent Beak!" The ottsel responded in kind.

"Stop wasting time." Loor snarled, stepping between the two animals, her hands ready if she needed to seize the two by their most readily available appendages; their tails. Daxter never seemed to get the true gravity of situations, and Pecker seemed like a crotchety old man, more interested in arguing than getting anything done.

"Let's just _move_." Jak sounded even more irritated, shaking his head and turning to begin walking in a direction that neither of the animals had specified.

With only a moment's hesitation, the others followed without a word.

* * *

><p>It was a death march.<p>

Jak led the way on a futile journey across an endless expanse of hot sand. Loor was sure he knew it too, but it was against his nature to hold still and let things happen. No, both he and she were creatures of action. They couldn't just sit and accept that this was the end. Ashelin had promised rescue when she had forced some sort of little doo-dad into Jak's hand, but neither of them saw how a little wafer of precursor metal with a yellow blinker was going to help when there was no one else out here. This island was dry, hostile, and isolated.

Lauren had to wonder just how many bones were hidden under the shifting sands; dried out bodies of others whom Haven had tossed out and left to die. Or maybe there were none; this island was where the metal heads had come from. There had to be some sort of local fauna they were hunting, but any creature in the wastes was likely also a scavenger.

Despite the heat of the sun, she shivered at that thought. Not just the death of a fugitive, but her remains being carved up by the very creatures she and Jak had endeavored to protect the city from.

By the time of high-noon Jak had started ripping apart his shirt in an attempt to beat the heat, yanking the sleeves off from where the garment was stitched together at the shoulder. Loor was thankful that her shirt was already sleeveless, but cursed it at the same time. Her fair skin had long turned an angry shade of red, and while the breeze brought mild relief it also brought grains of sand that made her want to itch the burn, and pain when she gave into that itch. Much longer and she was sure she'd start blistering and peeling. Jak, on the other hand, only enjoyed a deeper tan from the shade his skin had already been at.

Daxter and Pecker had chosen to walk for themselves in the incredible heat instead of hitching a ride with their human compatriots. Well, in Pecker's case, fly. For the most part they traveled in silence, only short arguments coming out of the fact that Daxter and Pecker were within a few feet of each other. Jak seemed to be buried in his own mind, muttering something from time to time.

The sun appeared to remain high in the sky for longer than should have been possible. Lauren could feel her head dipping low to avoid burning her cheekbones any further despite her usually proud posture. He mouth was dry, her body uncomfortable and ultimately sore from over exposure. Hunger kicked her gut now and again, but that was nothing to the nauseating cry of thirst. She never drank the recommended daily amount of water, preferring sweet juices and otherwise to Haven's city water; she could taste the chemicals used to make it 'clean' and 'safe'. Now she was sure dehydration was making her mind shrivel up, and she regretted her picky pallet.

Not that it mattered; they were all sweating their own weight in water.

This didn't make any sense; the metal heads had built an army out here; there had to be water enough _somewhere_ for a force of animals great enough to take on the city to survive off of... on the other hand, the metal heads could have very well evolved to live off of sea water for all she knew.

None of it made sense, she decided. And she wasn't going to puzzle anymore; her head hurt too much for the activity of puzzling. It was too hot out here.

Too damn hot.

She yelped slightly as she lost her footing in the sand, a burnt shoulder crashing into a hot and horrible bath of yellow grains that felt as if they cut through her. The pain sparked her to become alert once again, realizing her mind had checked out for a while; the sun finally swung away from it's noon position, the breeze growing into a full wind and making the world shift around them... not that it mattered, it was still the same as the last time she looked; sand and rocks. She also noticed her slip had briefly brought the party to a stop, Jak turning slightly and waiting to see if she needed help to get back up again. Scrambling, she winced and hissed through her teeth as she balanced getting to her feet with brushing the sand away from her sweaty arm. As ginger as she'd tried to make her touch the sting persisted long after she'd passed her hand over her damaged skin.

Jak still waited, watching her until she shambled forward to walk even with him, before he started trudging on again.

"Should we stop?"

His voice was quiet, hardly loud enough to conquer the whistling wind.

"Is there a point to stopping?" She returned, the dry feeling in her throat making her regret attempting to speak. She'd never take water for granted again... assuming she ever saw water again.

They both knew the answer to he question. They both knew that the point of this endless walk wasn't to find anything; they didn't have that hope. The hope was exhaustion; to pass out and die quietly, painlessly, without awareness of the world around them.

"I'll go first." She stated absently, noting the fact that she was in a lesser condition and that she'd likely be the first to fall. It wasn't a pleasantry or an offering; it was a statement.

She could tell he didn't like hearing that, even if he didn't outwardly react. He stared out to the horizon that never got any closer. "I'll carry you."

Had she the capacity, she would have glared. Sadly, she felt like attempting to move her eyes from their endless stare forward would cause a pain in her head to bloom that would rival the fire on her skin. Likewise, her energy for argument was next to nil. Instead she made little more than a dismissive grunt, moving closer to him while doing her best to copy his gait. Ignoring the searing sensation it caused, she leaned her shoulder on his, seeking his hand with her own.

Clumsy fingers managed to intertwine, and she made another noise that was trying to be a chuckle, but her mouth and throat were too dry. All that came loose was a rough cough that left her to drag in another lungful of arid desert wind. Somewhere in that attempted laugh was a feeling of remorse; she took comfort in her contact with him, but also felt rather terribly.

She'd just begun to feel again; she would have liked to have known what love was like before she died. She wanted to say so to him, but she couldn't manage it. The phrase was wrong or maybe she was just too embarrassed. Maybe the whole idea of love seemed pretty pointless in the face of a slow and dreadful death. That was probably it; it was stupid to be thinking about such silly things when they'd been banished by the city to such a fate.

Maybe she'd laugh about it. She closed her eyes and considered it. Maybe she'd laugh. Maybe she'd cry.

Maybe... after she slept. Heavy eyes refused to open again. She'd think about these things after she'd rested.

Assuming she ever woke up.

* * *

><p><strong>The Author's Corner<strong>

As mentioned up top, feel free to find me on Face Book. :D

-Loor


	17. Rescue

**I don't own Jak and Daxter, or Jak 3! Sorry!**

**Vacation or War-Endgame  
><strong>**Chapter Seventeen-Rescue**

One might figure waking up to the feeling of being immersed in water to be uncomfortable at best and quite rude at worst, but that was certainly not the case for Lauren. No, the feeling of being in water up to her ears was a refreshing and soothing feeling on her dried out and scorched skin, though it made the dryness of her face all the more noticeable since that was the only part of her _not_ in the water. She could feel the burn still sinking further into her flesh, banishing the comfort she found with the cool stasis the rest of her body had been treated to.

It made her realize she was still here, wherever 'here' was.

She remembered the desert, the sun, and the exhaustion that had sent her into a numb slumber. She knew she had expected not to wake up again. She'd expected to die, perhaps dreaming a sweet dream of water and comfort.

But this was no dream. The water was cold, her face still hurt, and she was stiff and sore all over. Despite floating in a pool of water her mouth was still dry, making her want to slip under and wet both her face and her pallet before opening her eyes and finding out about whatever world she still managed to exist in. There were questions. Questions like _where_ was she, and _how_ she'd gotten there. Was Jak with her? What about Daxter?

All questions that needed answers, but first she had to get a drink.

She let herself slip, noting the fact that she was seated on some kind of ledge in the water. It felt like rough stone, not a sandy bank. As her head began to dip down below the water she noted a steady sound that made her think of a small fall, feeding this heavenly spring perhaps? She didn't know, becoming preoccupied with the wonderful and yet utterly shocking sensation of cold water soothing the skin on her face which she was sure had been burned to a crisp.

About to be completely submerged, she parted her lips to take in a drink.

A rough hand suddenly took hold of her, yanking her back up and out of the water before she could swallow. Instead she sputtered, cursing and forcing her eyes open, feebly struggling to get away from whomever held her. A childish rage flared up, her already open mouth cleared of water but too dry to yell.

Open eyes had to blink against the light, quickly clearing and bringing her attempts at being vocal to a pause. The first thing she noted was the person who had yanked her out of the water.

Jak sat on the edge of the same pool she'd been floating in, holding her up and out of the water with one hand and looking at her with concern. His outfit had been cannibalized further than she remembered from before, the edges of where he'd ripped the sleeves from the shoulders looking to have been cleaned up with a sharp object of some kind. His scarf and goggles were off for the moment. It showed where the sun had toasted his tan complexion to a somewhat rosy shade, and where his face and neck had been defended by his usual accessories, remaining comparatively pale. His boots were gone too, his feet in the water.

Attempting to talk instead of yell this time, Loor managed to rasp at him, "Leggo..."

"You were falling in." He pointed out, as if defending his current hold on her. She noticed something about that hold; she wasn't wearing a shirt. He had her by the back of her sports bra.

She shook her head to indicate he was wrong, though the motion made her dizzy. "Thirsty." Was her only explanation, leaning her weight forward, towards the water, to try and escape his grip again.

Rolling his eyes, Jak finally complied and let her immerse herself. At first she stuck her whole head in, gulping water as if she meant to breathe it. The fact that she, and likely Jak, had been soaking in this pool to recover from the damage done by the desert didn't bother her. It was water; a little bodily filth wasn't going to stop her. She had already decided that she was never going to be picky with water again.

She calmed after a few moments, lifting her head up to breathe and then leaning down with a little more restraint. Lips below and nose above she could balancing drinking with breathing for as long as needed. Made blissful through indulgence she closed her eyes and continued, ignoring her surroundings for the moment.

"So you're both alive."

An unknown voice disturbed Loor, but not enough to get her to look. Jak would have grabbed her again if she needed to pay any particular attention. As long as she was left to her own devices she was going to worry about consuming the water necessary as to no longer feel like a dried-up prune that had recently been lit on fire.

"Yeah, looks like it!" Another voice, this one more familiar; Daxter was also present. He must have been mad at her again for not noticing him. Of course, it was Jak who had grabbed her. The ottsel would just have to forgive her and her priorities. "Hey, Loor! C'mon, about-face or whatever and at least thank the guy! He's been lookin' out for us!"

"Dax, it's okay." Jak reassured the ottsel. "Sorry." He then apologized to the mystery voice.

"It's alright, we're all about the same way when we're pulled from the desert."

At this point Loor had decided that the voice she was listening to was male, and though it had a rough aspect to it the way he spoke was rather kindly and respectful. Even-keeled, she decided. It gave her the feeling of a person who was perpetually calm and difficult to rattle. Another thing she noticed was that he was slightly muffled, like there was something over his mouth.

"So, was it you who found us?" Dax's question and tone made Loor assume the boys hadn't been awake for very long; they were still getting their bearings.

"No." The mystery man sounded closer now. "I don't leave very often. I've simply been caring for you three since you arrived."

"Where are we, exactly?" Jak sounded curious but also somewhat suspicious. They were in a world full of unknowns.

"That's not my place to say, at the moment. Rest assured that you are safe from the elements here, and relax."

There was the sound of something being set down, and Daxter made a victorious sound. This time, Loor felt a tap at her shoulder; Jak trying to get her attention.

Lifting her dripping face from the water and turning, she saw the unknown man. He wore clothes that might have been black and red in another life, but the sun, wind, and sand had done their work in dulling the colors to various shades and tints of beige and brown. Straps affixed armor to his person that didn't appear to come from any specific set, instead mixed and matched pieces that protected his limbs, not his core. A thick leather strap protected his neck, and his face was covered by a leather mask that was given structure by bits of bronze. A long and thin blade was strapped to his hip.

Between the mask, armor, clothes, and boots, this man's skin was completely covered. Only his ears were left to the sun, and that seemed trivial at best. Black hair was tightly braided and then rolled up upon itself, the ruthlessly banded mass of hair being the only other thing about him that was showing. Everything else, every other identifying feature, was covered.

He was bent near them, gloved hands setting a tray down within reach. Several strange fruits were piled up in a bowl on the tray. Daxter went after them first, ripping the tough skin off of the outside of something pink and chomping on the yellow inside before anyone else could reach for it.

"Who _are_ you, exactly?" Loor could speak clearly now, though her throat still felt raw. At least everything was lubricated now.

His masked face twisted about to look at her; she knew he was staring even if she couldn't see his eyes through the dark lenses that were set into the mask's leather face. "I am a warrior monk." He said after a pause. "I am also a healer. That is all you need to know, for the moment."

"So what'er we supposed to call you?" Daxter had stopped munching long enough to ask, Jak reaching out for a fruit now as Loor stayed fixed on the masked man. She was more interested in information, any information, than satisfying her stomach.

"It is unlikely that you'll need to call me anything." He seemed amused that such focus had been given to the need for a name. Before either Loor or Daxter could insist on the information he stood up and held out his hand in a silencing gesture. "I will leave you three for now, and be back shortly. You are free to explore this room, but there are guards at the base of the lift to prevent you from leaving. You've been warned."

"We're _still _prisoners?" Disgust was in Loor's voice, though trying to raise her tone made her cough.

"Of a sort." The masked man answered. "You must be proven worthy to live among us. It's quite simple, compared to where you just came from."

With that he turned, making his way away from them and towards a lift in the middle of the room. And, Loor realized, it _was_ a room that they were in. They were no longer outside. She should have figured that out between the dimmer light and the lack of particularly harsh heat or wind, but she hadn't been paying attention to the big picture, just little pieces.

Now, gazing slightly up as the masked man left them, she gaped a little bit at where she was. It was a wide open room with a domed ceiling and walls. Everything was made out of simple materials; sandstone and wood, the occasional bits of gray metal scattered about, and even more sparse bits of bronze. Precursor bronze, she realized. It had a particular shine. The lift, as mentioned, was made of wood and sat in the dead center of the room. A system of ropes and pulleys kicked into action when the masked man stood on it, lowering him out of the room and leaving her to blink at the odd conundrum it caused. Despite all the natural materials used to make this space, that elevator was clearly powered somehow and moved automatically.

The thought that there was more going on than met the eye got stronger as she noted little fountains and spouts of water that hung from the ceiling to drop into pools. There were three distinct areas of water, each supplied by a constant flow from these fonts. This meant the water was being cycled, and that there were motors and pumps involved.

And energy. Sustained energy.

The thought fascinated her, though not enough to distract her from one other major feature of the room.

There was a throne. Not just a chair, but a seat of sandstone that rose up out of the floor in a single piece. Despite a simple design its place both in front of the lift and between two of the stone columns that supported the ceiling gave it an air of importance.

"You alright?"

Her head whipped back around to face Jak, who had gotten one of the pink fruits for her and peeled it, offering the ready-to-eat yellow flesh to her as she absently stared about the place.

"Dried out." She muttered, taking the fruit and examining it. Without the peel the inner flesh was still contained in sections by a membrane, like an orange. Pulling the section apart and munching one, she found it to be both bursting with juice and citrus flavor, though it was extremely sweet compared to what she'd thought it was going to taste like. The citrus stung on her raw throat, but she was too hungry to care. None of them had eaten anything since they left Haven, and who knew how long ago _that _had been?

"Ya don't say?" Daxter snickered, having only peeled a small section of his fruit and reaching into it to yank the flesh out, ripping the sections into dripping pieces as he went. He was making quite a mess of himself. "You were the first one of us to go. That kid with the mask was worried you wouldn't make it."

"How did we get here?" Loor asked between mouthfuls of pulp. After her taste-test she was eating the rest of it several sections at a time.

"We don't know." Jak shrugged. "I only made it another hour or so after you passed out, then I was gone too. When I came to, we were all here."

"Yeah, with a buncha paint-faces looking us over!" Daxter shuddered, as if the memory creeped him out.

Loor blinked a few times, reaching for another fruit from the bowl. "... Where's Pecker?"

"Bah, who cares about birdbrain?" Dax answered as Jak shrugged. "Nothin' but a bag-o-wind anyways. At least when he was with Onin he was sayin' something useful; on his own it's just yak-yak-yak about _nothin'._"

"But..." Loor had tried to peel her fruit with her nails with little success, opting for her teeth to get it started before going on. "He had something to say to me, didn't he? A message _from_ Onin."

The ottsel's head lifted suddenly, as if that reminder gave him some worry. "_Oooh, _that's right... Bah, that bird has been around a _long_ time. As much as I hate to say it, I'm sure we haven't seen the last of him."

"It might have been important..." Jak sounded a bit worried himself. "But it's not like there's anything we can do about that right now."

Loor found herself nodding slowly, the three of them focusing on finishing the bowl of fruit. Loor lifted herself out of the water shortly after, spotting her shirt within a pile of things that also included her and Jak's boots and holsters. The bits of leather and metal were of little use at the moment, but she put all of her things back on simply for the comfort of having everything in one place. She even strapped on her boots, choosing to stand up and look about the room while Jak and Daxter remained at the pool of water. Dax had immersed himself to get all of the fruit juice out of his fur, and Jak stayed seated while he had nothing to do, his feet still in.

Her main curiosity was for the throne of sandstone, but also the fact that the wall behind it was a giant wall of glass. The glass itself was crudely made at best, with whorls of colors appearing in odd places and the thickness widely varied, distorting the image that came through. Sand also caked the outside surface, making it almost impossible to perceive anything through the pane but muddy light.

She still tried, though, stepping around the regal chair and squinting to try and see out. There were shapes, but they seemed to waver as she stared out at them. Regular boxy shapes that might have been buildings rippled as she tried to examine them, the random assortment of form and vague colors leaving her confused and frustrated.

Moving to browse the window and look for a better view, she stopped when she heard the lift moving. As if she were doing something wrong she quickly dashed to be in front of the throne and closer to Jak and Daxter.

All three of them looked to the lift as it labored to bring someone up to the room.

The platform arrived with two people present on it. The masked man was back, holding a woven basket of some kind that hardly seemed important at the moment. No, attention was stolen by the other man on the lift. He was a tall and imposing creature of lean muscle and skin turned tan by the harsh desert sun. His clothes were composed of dirty rags, leather straps, and beautifully-kept armor that was clearly mis-matched pieces of a set. The most eye-catching piece of a large chunk of spiked metal on his shoulder that had to weigh a great deal, but he carried as if it were not there.

His face reflected some age, as did the barren top of his head. White hair still grew thickly from the edges of the dome, banded into dreads that looked almost dangerous to the touch. Despite those marks, though, he stood tall and intimidating, bright violet eyes locking on to the new arrivals in his domain. The final piece to his ensemble was a staff of precursor bronze that seemed to be both a symbol of power and possibly a weapon, the end of it looking like it might've been the head of a gun.

His face, Loor thought to herself, looked somewhat familiar.

Entering with long and powerful strides, he spoke while the masked man meekly followed him. "So you've come back from the dead, have you?" He asked, his voice as intense and harsh as the way he looked. There was no nonsense to this man, no external weakness. "And my monks were ready to pray for you." He added with something of a snort and a gesture of his staff. Then, without taking even a beat of consideration, he introduced himself. "I am Damas, king of Spargus."

"Spargus?" Jak was the first to question, thinking about it for only a few moments. "But no one lives outside of Haven's walls... Not a whole city!" He gestured around, as if he expected this room to be all there was.

Still on the approach, Damas took a rather rueful smile on his face. "Ah yes, we _are_ the forgotten ones. Thrown out, and left to die..." He looked to each of them, the look in his eyes rather piercing. "Just as you were."

"You found us." Loor spoke with a little surprise. In that giant sandbox they'd been found, and she had to think it had something to do with the little precursor trinket Ashelin had given to Jak. "Saved us." She amended. "Now what?"

Damas focused on her as Jak stood up, leaving the water behind to face this intimidating presence. Daxter was up a moment later, clambering up to Jak's shoulder. "Now that you've been saved, your lives belong to the people of Spargus. And we will use them, if they're actually _worth_ anything."

"Hey!" Dax was catching on, and the look on his fuzzy mug said he didn't like it. "That sounds like a bad deal!"

Damas stopped directly in front of Jak and Daxter, looking down at the two of them as Loor stared on from only a few feet away. "You are in no position to 'deal.'" Damas spoke with both authority and somewhat frightening certainty. Through his diction alone he had full control of the situation, and Jak's face reflected his distaste of feeling powerless. "Out here everything is either useful, or dead weight. You three will prove yourselves worthy, or the desert will be your grave."

"And how exactly do we do that?" Loor was stepping closer, watching the look on Jak's face. He was restraining himself, and she could feel the energy coming off of him. Her hair was starting to stand on end as her own personal sense for eco was tugged in his direction. She could _feel_ his temper sparking. She hoped to mediate and defuse the situation.

"Tests of combat and physical ability will be your first task." The masked man spoke up, still standing at Damas's side. "Other skills are relevant, but you must be able to survive if you're to be of any value to us."

"You guys just pulled us back from the brink of death, and out of the desert." Loor pointed out. "Now you want us to run an obstacle course and put on a show of fighting? Here's betting half of your newbies die from exhaustion during the tests."

"Not at once." Damas's incredulous voice came with a glare that took his attention from the trouble twins and over to Loor. "You will be fed and given time to recover, as well as space to train. Though you may do well to remember..." An odd smile took his face. "There is nothing beyond our walls. Run if you want to. You already know what that ending will be like."

"You need to work on making a better first impression." Jak growled out.

Damas actually laughed, finding Jak's rage entertaining as well as meaningless. "In the wasteland we value strength and survival above all. We will see where you stand soon enough. In time you will enter the arena, where only the very bravest crawl out an are allowed to stay in Spargus."

"Uh..." Daxter's ears had fallen, showing a measure of fear. "What happens to the ones that _don't_ crawl out?"

Humor fled Damas's face, his brow coming down over his violet eyes and narrowing them into aggressive slits. "Then it will be as if we never found you."

Dax gulped. "I was afraid of that."

* * *

><p><strong>The Author's Corner<strong>

DAMAS! YAY!

Sorry, I like writing Damas. He's fun. :D

BUT I need to eat and go to work so peace out peeps!

-Loor


	18. Yet

**Disclaimer: I don't own Jak and Daxter, Jak 3, or any related characters. MEOW!**

**Vacation or War-Endgame  
><strong>**Chapter Eighteen-Yet**

Recovery from the desert had taken slightly more than a week, though Loor wondered why she even bothered to keep the days in order anymore. She made an effort to remember things like if it was a Tuesday, or what month it was. Out in the wastes it didn't really matter that was nearly December to anyone but her, but she still did her best to remember and measure time in all ways her brain knew. She tried to give each day weight; time simply mattered to her more than it had before.

Nearly dying did that to a person.

It was the masked man who took charge of them while Damas practically vanished from the scene. During the first day he came and went from the room they'd all woken up in, bringing different kinds of food with him each time and taking away the empty containers for whatever he'd brought up the time before. The amounts were small, forcing them all to eat slowly and share, as well as get used to having a full stomach again after a prolonged state of starvation. Everything was simple; raw fruits, hard and salty bread, equally salty lengths of jerky that could have come from any animal but none of them really cared, all of it washed down with helpings of water from the endless springs in the room.

By sundown they were all feeling human again, if not still a bit crispy from over-exposure. That was when they were moved from Damas's throne room to another room down below. The masked man took them on the lift after darkness had fallen, entering another level of the same building at ground-floor. The room they entered was simple enough; a wide-open space with a multitude of low cots; a barracks. Several cots were taken, and the masked man left them to pick their own, promising to return in the morning.

And return he did, before the sun rose. He was flanked by others who woke everyone present in the barracks as well as lit candles placed throughout the room to shed some light. Loor could see people who looked like Haven townies among the others in the room, but the strong majority had one thing in common.

Service tattoos.

Krimzon Guards. She tried to stare only briefly, wondering who had ordered their banishment from the city, and upon what grounds. Most of them had remained in the city until recently, she'd paid personal witness to that, but there had to be at least twenty men and women with tattoos out here with them. Had these guards been closer to the Baron? Worked in the prison?

She realized rather quickly that it didn't matter; even if these people used to be foes, everyone out in the wastes was in the same boat.

A common meal was shared, brought in by the masked man and his helpers. Water was passed around as well in leather skins. Then, without a word being spoken in the collective silence of the morning, six people got up and left, following one of the people who had come in with the masked man.

Left only with her curiosity, Loor could only assume it was their day to take the test. They would either survive and stay, or fail and be returned to the desert from which they were rescued.

Everyone else, Jak, Daxter, and herself included, were led outside only moments later. It was too dark to really see what Spargus looked like, but Loor could hear the crash of the ocean somewhere; they were on the coast of the island. The group was herded by the masked man and his helpers, all of them coming to another building in the darkness and entering.

This building had torches instead of candles for light, which made Loor wonder why the people of Spargus chose such primitive options in illumination when it was clear that they had enough sustained power to pump water up into their king's throne room. Still, her questions took a back-seat to the purpose of the space they entered; it was a practice building. Basic equipment for the purpose of training was scattered about the central space, as well as a few classic set-pieces of an obstacle course. The outside rim of the space was left clear, and Loor had a guess as to why.

With only a few words, the group was commanded to start running laps. Training had started.

The first day was a template that all of the ones after followed. The morning run was hardly regulated; you went for as long as you wanted. There was no grading, no judging. Several townies dropped out before the first lap was done, ducking into the center of the space and beginning to toy with some of the equipment, though without any real drive. No one yelled at them to get back on the track, or even prodded them to work on something else as some of them choose to just sit on the floor or chat with each other.

Loor imagined they were unlikely to survive if they didn't shape up soon. She was running to keep even with Jak, and thanks to all the time she'd devoted to self-improvement in Haven she was actually doing pretty well. In a sprint she was actually faster than Jak, but he'd been teaching her endurance and pacing. Now this just felt like another one of their practice runs, only instead of going around city blocks in Haven they had a dusty track on a designated prison-island. Needless to say, all of the people with KG markings were also sticking with it, one or two of them always making a point to lead the pack.

This actually bothered Loor a little. Something tickled in her memory; a brightly lit gymnasium, mandatory running on a particular day of the week... and she was _always_ in front. Instinct told her to put on a little speed; to push herself into the lead. It would destroy the rhythm she had going with Jak, but something told her she'd run until her lungs burned up if that meant she could take and keep the front of the pack.

A glance over to Jak showed her that he was also looking at the front position with some desire.

Oh, right, he liked to race.

They both blasted ahead, Daxter letting off a little yelp since he was still practically sleeping on Jak's shoulder.

To her credit, Loor did manage to take the lead... but she didn't hold it for long. Burning out quickly, she blasted ahead and promptly veered to the outside, slowing to a jog and then a cooling walk as the whole pack passed her by, turning to the central area to start looking at some of the other toys they got to play with as preparation for their test.

Jak, on the other hand, took the lead and kept it after she flamed out. She couldn't say she was surprised. Still gasping for air, she had to take a seat and get her breath back before anything else. Jak would join her later, and the two of them would work through the rest of the day going from piece to piece, looking for the best things to focus on for improvement. Loor knew her focus was probably going to be upper-body-strength. She was getting better, but this wasn't the time to settle. Her physical performance was going to dictate her survival now; any deficiency was possibly deadly.

Open spaces acting as windows in the upper reaches of the room alerted everyone to the wearing on of the day. As the outside light grew brighter, other people entered who weren't required to be here; wastelanders who had already passed their tests but returned to maintain and sharpen their skills. The main way to tell the difference between the group of newbies and the wastelanders was the fact that confirmed citizens were carrying their weapons. Both men and women, they arrived out of the sunshine outside and took to whatever activity they wished.

Quite a few of them had service tattoos as well; some of them older. Had the Baron been sending dissenters out here as well? She would expect it from him.

Food and water was provided through the day, similar as to when Loor and Jak had first arrived, but in larger quantities to fit the larger group. With sustenance available and activity self-directed, the day was spent in the practice building, the group of newbies herded together and returned to the barracks only after the sun had once again swung below the horizon.

Each day after went very much the same; awake before the sun, to bed after it, and the days spent hard at work. This was Spargus's way of giving even the most inexperienced person a chance at survival; giving them time and a facility in which to improve themselves.

But only if they had the drive. Some of the townies started trying harder as the days went on, but most remained unmotivated. They weren't even trying, and everyone ignored them in turn. They were choosing their own fate with their actions.

By Loor's count of the days, it was a week after they started that the masked man pulled Jak, Daxter, and herself aside half-way through the day. She was sore, but still felt good about her progress. Jak had been taking the time to teach her; helping her keep up with him in all aspects. She had a long way to go, but she imagined she'd always be trying to keep up with him in feats of simple strength.

"Your test is the day after tomorrow." The masked man told them after pulling them out of the group to stand by the door. "You both may want to take the time to prepare."

"Isn't that what we've been doing?" Loor huffed, fresh off of a second run Jak had spurred her on for the day.

"In one part." He agreed. "But in another part, both of you still have impractically long hair, as well as clothes that are not well suited to the wasteland." He looked to Jak on the second half of his comment; the blue shirt he wore layered over itself in the front, adding a whole extra layer of fabric that didn't need to be there. "Also, a complete lack of armor may be counted brave in some parts, but I find it more than likely reflects childish stupidity." He'd gone back to Loor.

"Haven took my combat vest..." She muttered, though she realized the argument wasn't even worth starting. Both she and Jak had been stripped of almost all of their equipment, Jak only keeping a few pieces of armor on his shoulder and forearm.

"It is, as always, your choice if you want to take advantage of our hospitality." The masked man pointed out with a smirk on his voice. "Myself and a few apprentice monks are ready if you are."

Jak nodded slightly, making the decision for the group before Loor could whine about the fact that she liked her hair where it was, as well as Jak's. "Let's go."

* * *

><p>Loor awoke on the morning of the test to a light touch on her shoulder. Eyes flying open, she jerked upright with her hands ready to defend herself. She didn't know why, but she always jolted awake, and today was no exception.<p>

The first thing she noticed was the extreme darkness of the barracks; the candles hadn't been lit yet. That meant it wasn't the masked man or any of his apprentices nudging her awake, but a much more friendly face... granted it was one she couldn't see in the dark.

That didn't matter; she knew him when his hand clasped over one of her fists, reassuring her that there was no need for aggressive morning behavior. "Hey." His whispered greeting in the extreme silence of the barracks.

"What's up, Jak?" She shook off her grogginess quickly, relaxing her body and searching the shadows for an indication of where he was. Bleary eyes adjusted slowly, and she began to depend on other senses to get her bearings. "Couldn't sleep?" She quested as her ears picked up the simple sound of him breathing.

His hand still remained on hers, gently spreading her fingers to slip between them. "Wondering how you're holding up." Was his answer, evading the possible implication that he might've been worried about her. "Think you're ready?"

"Don't matter what I think." She pointed out dryly. "Do or die, right? That's why you've been busting my chops at training, right?"

He snickered, and she heard him moving to come up and sit on her cot with her. She began to scoot to give him his own space, but he still held her hand and used it as leverage to keep her where she was, sitting by her. "Right." He agreed, though there was tension in his voice. "Hey..." He trailed off, as if he was unsure of how to say something. "Have you been feeling okay?"

"Okay?" She questioned the use of the term. A little more than a week ago they'd been in Haven, held prisoner, and then thrown out for crimes neither of them really committed. Describing her condition after all of that took a lot of words, and 'okay' wasn't one of them. She was angry with the city, and more so at everyone who let this happen. She was sure Veger couldn't just get people tossed out on his lonesome, and the people of Haven were practically screaming for it to happen.

On top of that, she was beginning to feel a bit strange at night. During the day she didn't notice it because she was active, but in the moments before sleep she found herself feeling quite sick. She figured it didn't matter; the test that was coming up was the important thing. She had to be tough to survive out here, right? The fact that it felt like her stomach was burning from the inside sometimes, or her head felt as if it was trying to implode, or any other little gripe that happened to pop up right before she drifted off wasn't a big deal.

"... I guess." She muttered.

He gauged this response quietly. "You too, huh?"

"Eh..?" She blinked before realizing; he asked because something was happening to him. "W-wait... you mean you've been getting sick too? How bad...? I mean, I only notice it when there's nothing else going on, like it's always there but if I'm distracted I don't care... It kinda burns..."

"Same." His response was a short agreement to all that she said. "Started a few nights ago..."

She stopped talking for a moment. A shared experience between the two of them instantly pointed her to their other trait in common. "Do you think...?" She paused, not really wanting to say it. "Do you think it's the eco? The taint?"

"Almost certain." He huffed, his hand now tightening on hers.

"So..." She found herself staring. Even if her eyes were useless she left them open to gaze into the empty black of the room. "That's it, then? We're dying..." She trailed, considering it as he didn't respond to her statement. "Not dead yet, though."

She felt it as he moved again, his body shifting as his other hand found and cupped the side of her face. The touch sent a jolt of warm surprise through her, tingling on her cheeks as she became aware of his face not being very far from hers. Shock was a sensation in her mind as well, but it was banished as he bumped noses with her to make sure he wouldn't miss, followed by finding her lips.

His kiss was soft, without demand. He waited for her response, which she gave in changing the angle slightly while resting her free hand on his neck. His scarf and goggles were missing, giving her fingers an easy time of sliding up into his hair, which she still loved despite how much the monks had shortened it. From there it was his turn to escalate, but instead he pulled back. The moment was there, and then it was gone. She got the sense that he was smiling at her, because she was certainly smiling at him.

"No." He agreed with her. "We're not dead yet."

* * *

><p><strong>The Author's Corner<strong>

Short chapter! EEP! Meow, oh well... I think we'll all live, since as it's a chapter vs. not a chapter.

Anyway, I have skipped out on so many chores today isn't not even funny, so I'm gonna go get on some of that stuff.

Happy reading,

-Loor


	19. Proving Grounds

**I don't own Jak and Daxter. And honestly, by now most of you are probably going 'Thank God, or the goddamn games would have come on like seven different disks.' **

**Vacation or War-Endgame  
><strong>**Chapter Nineteen-Proving Grounds**

"Loor, sweetie, can you please _relax?_ You're making me nervous, and that takes some doing!"

Loor did little more than snort in Daxter's direction, obsessively making a path back and forth across the hallway they were waiting in. She was full of anxious energy, mainly because they weren't the only ones being tested that day, and they weren't allowed to watch other people going through the trial. Why? Why would they keep that a secret? Was it so everything they did was based solely on their natural reactions, or because something much more ugly was being hidden? She had no idea, and it bothered her. Not knowing drove her crazy.

As always they'd been brought through Spargus before dawn, leaving them without their bearings. All she knew was they'd climbed a fuck-ton of stairs to get to this place, and once they were there with the other newbies getting tested that day they were told to wait. A few of the masked man's apprentices stayed with them to make sure no-one wandered too far, while the masked man himself went beyond one of the two sets of doors in the U-shaped hallway.

Loor had tried both sets of doors; they were locked. She figured as much when she'd tried, seeing as none of the people watching them had made a move to stop her. Still, she'd been pretty calm then; just a few hours ago.

Then the world outside began to get brighter, and the citizens of Spargus began to enter. The first signal that something was happening came when their guards suddenly stepped forward and herded the whole group together in the center of the hall; right in front of the entrance from the city. In the growing light Loor could see the stairs they'd climbed to get up to this place, but she could also see the coming spectators; grizzled wastelanders of every race, weight class, and gender. A slow trickle at first, later a crowd of people turning out for this event.

She realized, with some disgust, that she and her fellow newbies were on display. They were the day's entertainment. Sub-human until such time as they earned the right through whatever sick game Damas had planned for them. Some came rather close to where they'd been pushed together, eying each of the possible participants with either expectation or skeptic interest.

Jak caught a lot of eyes, she noticed. Of course, after the monks had gotten done with him, he looked like he belonged. His hair had been cut short, and all extra cloth had been removed from his shirt to make the garment more suited to the hot whether. In place of the extra flap of fabric, which had been attached to the clips that kept the shirt closed, a basic leather guard sat over his stomach and was strapped on, acting both as basic armor and a way to keep his shirt on his back. The extra fabric had been folded around more leather scraps and fashioned onto basic guards on his now bare arms, and his massive gloves had been cut down to size to get rid of the extra weight and material. With the addition of a loin cloth over his already wearing pair of gray pants, Jak just needed his gun back and he'd fit right in.

Loor didn't feel so confident about her own appearance to these people, even after the monks had helped her as well. Her hair, as much as she hated to part with it, had been shortened up to nearly even with her jaw-line, and non-too professionally. No, they'd butchered it with a few rough cuts and left it at that. Since the black cascade had been nearly to her tush before, her head felt oddly light after those few slices. Following that she'd been gifted a set of thick leather shoulder pads and a set of equally thick straps that she'd strapped around her knees for protection. With her scarf still wrapped around her brow to keep what was left of her hair out of her face and a few long strips of dirty cloth wrapped around her hands and forearms, she didn't imagine herself to look too impressive to these hardened warrior-types.

Granted, she wasn't the most pathetic creature on display. Some of the townies who'd barely participated in training were among their group. Loor knew the masked man had pulled each of them aside as well, the same as he'd down for her and Jak, and all of them had refused any help the monks of Spargus had to offer. Unmotivated, _and_ stupid. Never a good mix. As usual, their decisions were honored with a complete lack of a attention from those around them.

A din now buzzed beyond the doors as more and more people poured in, giving Loor her first buzz of nervous energy. Eventually the flow of humanity trickled off, and the doors to the outside were shut and barred as the apprentices stepped away and let them wander within the hallway once more. The doors at the ends of the hallway were also shut again, having been opened just long enough for all the citizens of Spargus to enter the area beyond.

Time passed, and eventually one of the doors opened just enough to reveal the masked man. He spoke softly, giving a name to which one of the townies responded by stepping forward.

Both of them vanished beyond the door, and the roar of the crowd suddenly grew louder as the first combatant entered the arena.

Loor felt a little sick when that happened. Something about making sport out of human life bothered her a great deal. No one else in the room seemed particularly disturbed.

She'd begun to pace when the masked man returned alone, bidding the next person to come along with him.

From there things got more and more tense for her. It may have been no more than a half hour each time, and the masked man returned by his lonesome almost every time to ask for the next candidate. It was only twice that he returned with company, and both times that person had blood on them; some of it their own, most of it not. They were gently led outside by one of the apprentices, soft words of congratulations being uttered.

Loor's pacing took a frantic rhythm as they were the last ones left waiting, absently chewing her thumbnail. Jak appeared calm, leaning on the wall and not even bothering to keep his eyes open; he might've been catching a nap for all she knew. Daxter, on the other hand, was watching her with a growing frown on his fuzzy face.

He'd already pleaded with her once, but saw fit to do so again when she hardly reacted.

"Loor, baby, _CHILL!" _The ottsel chided. "You do that any faster and you're gonna make me dizzy just watchin'."

"Maybe we _should_ be a little nervous." She snapped back, rounding at the end of her path and facing the boys from across the hall. Jak showed himself to be awake as one of his eyes cracked open to look at her. "Anyways, if I held still I'd just get frustrated. I'm just burning off extra energy."

"We ain't got nothing to worry about." Daxter batted back with his usual bravado. "Jakkie-boy and I have been through hell more times than we wanna name, and you've made it too. This'll be a walk in the park! Trust me."

"Maybe." Jak muttered softly, pushing off of the wall to stand straight. "Maybe not."

Loor found herself loosing another snort, failing to come up with a verbal response. Between Daxter's optimism and Jak's apathy, she was left with her own extreme pessimism and the feeling that if something poked her the wrong way she was going to fly off the handle.

Finally, with a huff, she crossed the hall to stand by Jak, directing her gaze at the door as if she could drill through it with her eyes.

"Not dead yet." Jak reminded her, making her look at him.

A hint of a smile was on his face.

With a snicker she nudged him, her own tense frown breaking into an out-of-place grin. Daxter was looking at them both as if they were perfectly insane, his mouth open to ask a question.

He didn't get the chance though; the door opened.

The masked man entered alone.

"Jak, Loor, Daxter." He greeted them each in turn. Loor imagined that Daxter would have preened at being recognized if it wasn't time to potentially face the gallows. "It's time."

This time he swung the door wide; they were the last ones to be tested today, there was no reason to slam it shut. Instead the noise of the crowd burst in, shaking Loor's smile into a grimace as they began to dazedly step forward.

It was an open-air stadium that they stepped into, built into a natural bowl of stone. Stands had been carved into the walls that overflowed with people, all cheering at the appearance of the last combatants for the day. Light came down from the sky, but also up from great basins of wood and fire built up on pedestals of stone and roughly shaped metal. Between all the bodies, the sun, and the almost excessive amount of fire keeping the place aglow with orange, the heat was shocking to the senses and unpleasant. Loor was almost glad that she was dressed so lightly, and she was sure Jak was thankful for the layer that had been taken off of his shirt.

They stepped out onto a stone platform that felt more like a ledge compared to the rest of the place. It was so huge, it made Loor feel small and the place she was standing on even smaller. The roar of the crowd became an oppressive tumult as she and Jak took the stage, giving her a kick to her nervous stomach and making her guts tighten around the thought of possibly going reverse course.

She swallowed, blinking and trying to pay attention to any sense besides her ears. Maybe the noise would hurt less if she distracted herself from it. She noted how high up they were; the ledge they stood on was at least two stories up from the bottom of the bowl; a large and flat place where she imagined they would be tested. Of course, there was more to it than that. This place was humming with more than just energy from all the people; she could practically feel the floor vibrating with mechanical forces as well. As she squinted, the ground floor revealed itself to her eyes to be sections of metal, currently closed together and waiting.

She had no doubt that the floor would re-form itself into the first test the masked man had warned about; running and jumping. An obstacle course. Then, she imagined, it would change again for a flat place to do their combat test. Or maybe they'd be expected to fight and run the course.

She found herself not caring. It was time to get on with this. The masked man had them both by the upper arm, gently turning them to the left to note the ledge they were on extended along the wall of this great stone bowl.

Their current perch led to a platform with an alter on it. With the masked man prodding, both she and Jak began to walk for it, taking careful steps when their path broke into sections. The part attached to the wall ended, a square piece serving as a stepping stone between point A and point B turning out to also be a lift that would get them down to the bottom of the bowl when the time came.

It wasn't that time yet, though. Stepping beyond and onto the other platform, Jak, Loor, and Daxter stood and faced an alcove carved into the wall that housed a regal throne. The masked man stood behind them as they stared up at Damas; the king of Spargus had front-row seats to their proving.

Also present, perched on Damas's arm, was Pecker. The colorful creature was alive and well, and energetic to boot. He flung his wings wide like arms, the bright yellow calling attention in this dirty arena as his voice made obvious that this area was subject to some kind of amplification; Pecker's already loud voice carried over the crowd, and was clearly meant for them. While Loor stared, trying to get over general disbelief, Pecker introduced them to the fans that were screaming for blood.

"Hail all citizens of Spargus! Welcome to the arena of death, where we get to watch other people wet themselves in fear!" The birdbrain was clearly enjoying the attention he was getting, and his particular choice in words made Loor want to leap up to Damas's box and break his neck. "These halls will once again test our new comers, but perhaps we have saved the best for last because we've got a special case on our hands; found together, trained together, and now we shall test them together! It is time for them to fight for their lives and prove their worth to live among us! Let's hear it for Jak, Loor, and their obnoxious talking animal!"

The roar was deafening. Apparently the crowd liked the idea of this treat. The sound was like another rough kick to the stomach, but something else was bothering her. There was a buzzing in the air that was more than all the other types of energy flying around this monstrous space.

Something was making the hair on the back of her neck stand up, tugging her awareness. She glanced off to the side during Pecker's introduction to try and see if there was something that would help her puzzle things out, but the masked man stood behind them and blocked her view of the arena in her peripheral vision.

"Pecker!" Jak, on the other hand, was more preoccupied with the loudmouth with the king. "There you are. Where were you?"

"Damas says," Pecker began, much in the way he would have said 'Onin says' in the past. The moncaw was very good at speaking for others. "I am to be his new counselor." He gave a showy bow with a smug smile plastered across his monkey-like face. "He says my wisdom will serve him well." He added, though his enthusiasm faded a little bit as he moved on. "Oh yeah, and Damas also says that... ah..." The bird began to feign disinterest. "You two are likely to die in the arena today, and-"

"Bullshit!" Loor had finally come back down to earth, glaring up at the bird. "If that's what Damas really thinks, he don't know us too well, does he? You shoulda told him better, Pecker."

She could tell that Jak had given her a shocked and sideways glance; such brazen behavior must not have fit with how he expected her to behave at this moment. That didn't matter though, something had just struck her senses that gave her unprecedented confidence in this event.

The sense she was getting; the energy that was pricking at her skin and making her spine want for the sensation of static.

There was eco in this room, and she had no doubt it would be part of the test. Combat, the part she'd been worrying about, suddenly had her grinning up at her would-be liege. If they passed these tests Damas would be her king, but as of yet she felt no need to fear nor respect him. Not if he underestimated her and Jak like this.

"He is right." Damas spoke for himself, sharp violet eyes narrowed on Loor's cocky smile. A smirk began to reflect on his own face; he found her bravado entertaining. "You will most likely die. Prove me wrong, if you can."

Daxter snorted. "C'mon, we've taken everything else this place has thrown at us. Pecker, you probably talked yourself up there cause you'd never last down here!"

The colorful creature didn't deny his cowardice, simply shrugging his tiny shoulders. "It beats working for a living... I saw a few of the fights earlier... _Oooh, _not a pretty sight."

Daxter's irritation grew at Pecker's attempt to make them anxious about the coming action, as well as rubbing in his own lofty position, away from danger. "Why you little-!"

Cutting Daxter off with a sudden burst of activity, Pecker made the leap down to the floor in front of Damas's feet, once again throwing his wings wide to show off the bright yellow color on their under-sides and crow out; "Let the games begin!" loud enough that the amplifier picked it up and blasted it around the arena.

In the resulting noise from the crowd, the masked man touched both Jak and Loor on the shoulder to direct them to either side of the platform they were currently standing on. There was a lift to either side of their current position, but it was clear that they were being split up for this first challenge. With little more than a moment of eye-contact as a goodbye and good luck, Loor stepped off towards her indicated lift on the right, Jak and Daxter moving to the left. Once they were both in place the lifts began to descend.

Loor looked to the bottom of the bowl and felt a small flood of smug satisfaction at the fact that her guess had been right; the floor was mechanical and currently moving. Platforms were being arranged out of a mess of sheet metal and cogs that lived under the originally flat expanse. She couldn't hear the machines working over the crowd, but she could feel the vibrations in her bones. That and the eco power in the room. There was some being used by the mechanical floor, but she could sense more of it somewhere. She was determined to find it.

She had to briefly wonder why she wanted to find it so badly. She wasn't low enough to warrant worry at the moment; just enough that Lyra stayed mostly quiet and they weren't capable of transformation. This was the level she should have been comfortable with; just enough to live, not enough for the darker part of herself to dominate her.

And yet, she craved it. The dim sense that there was eco somewhere near by made the nerves along her spine tingle with an interesting kind of want for the sparks that raced up her back during the act of absorption; an experience that was both painful and somehow pleasurable for her. Regardless of the power it would give to Lyra and the complications it was likely to cause, her body lusted for the sensation and for the greater feeling of power that resulted.

It was an addiction, she noted as her lift stopped moving, thumping into position in front of a newly formed obstacle course. She knew in her head that the eco was killing her, but still her body craved it with a ravenous fervor. Even as she knew she should have been trying to get her head into the game, all she could think about what where it could possibly be.

Stepping forward was an act she had to force herself through. Getting off of the lift and bringing herself back to the task at hand was both difficult and mentally painful. That pain also reminded her of the sickness she'd been feeling. It was still there, ever constant, but she was beginning to notice it more. What had been a minor irritation that she only noticed when she laid down to sleep was becoming a mild and constant body ache that burned in her guts.

She wondered how Jak was holding up.

The lift that had lowered her down sprang back up, effectively cutting off any way of going back. Taking that as her signal to begin, Loor threw herself forward to try and ignore everything else.

* * *

><p><strong>The Author's Corner<strong>

Holy HELLO.

Hi everyone.

Um. Yeah. Hi. That's about all I've got for you. I love you all. :D

MEOW!

-Loor


	20. Two of a Kind

**Disclaimer: I do not own Jak and Daxter, Jak II, or Jak 3. I just write a fuck-load of fanfiction. If you're reading this right now, I love you. Just letting you know. **

**Vacation or War-Endgame  
><strong>**Chapter Twenty-Two of a Kind**

By the end of the obstacle course, Loor was more than thankful for every time Jak had pushed her to just a little more during training. It wasn't that her raw abilities hadn't been up to snuff; more her confidence in them. A week ago she would have looked at a three-foot gap with a twenty-foot drop into a veritable meat grinder of cogs and mechanical nightmare fuel with apprehension and hesitation. Now she didn't have to look; she just leapt over it. Climbing, running, jumping, all things she was decent at but would have failed at if she hadn't kept her momentum going. Mentally, she made a note that she owed Jak a hug and some kind words.

Right now, they were too busy working together on the final stretch where their paths converged on each other. Loor had no doubt that Jak had just run a mirror image of the same gantlet she'd just trotted out of, only to be stopped by the next ledge that was too high to get up on by oneself. Without even a word of greeting, Jak offered her the boost to get up so she could lean over the edge and yank him up in return once she was standing on top. The last of the run was more of the same; simple things that required team work.

As they arrived at the end of the course and the lifts were lowered to take them back up to Damas, Loor had to wonder why in the world this part of the test was on display. Sure it was best to test physical ability before fighting, but couldn't they have just held a pre-screening in the practice building or something?

She then considered the fact that those who hadn't passed these tests hadn't come out again. She wondered how many bones had been ground up by those gears below the platforms, doing away with the unworthy.

She moved onto the lift with an oddly eager step to get away from the metal that would soon be moving again. Jak opted to ride on the same lift as her, the other one left empty as the one they boarded quickly rose back to the platform they'd originally faced Damas on. He was there, still seated, watching them carefully as they stood to look up at him once more. He didn't look impressed, and Loor could sympathize. This crowd wasn't here for a couple of hops and skips across the clockwork floor.

No, the ever oppressive noise around her was waiting for the action of combat and the possibility of blood. It made her sick to her stomach that she and Jak were nothing but entertainment to these people. It felt like some strange and particularly icky form of bondage. She didn't feel human, standing before Damas. She felt like an animal, led into a kill box for amusement.

Jak, she noted, looked similarly uncomfortable.

She also noted at this moment that the masked man was gone from the platform. He must have moved to the stands to watch.

Pecker, still at Damas's feet, looked surprised for some reason. "The candidates have won the challenge!" He crowed, glancing at Damas as if looking for some kind of reaction similar to his own.

"That's right!" Daxter cheered the victory, even if it was a small one. "We bad! You two haven't forgotten what I taught ya!"

Loor snorted with a measure of irritation as Jak took on an entertained smirk. "Big deal." She spoke harshly. "We ready to do the real thing now?"

"In a hurry to die?" Damas was leaning forward in his throne now, speaking with a voice that could have sliced through steel. "Anyone can make a few measly jumps, now let's see how you rate against the living!" In a short and swift motion Damas reached to the side of his regal seat to pull out two objects and fling them in Loor and Jak's direction, only quick wits and hands saving the items from going off the side. "Prepare the arena for full combat!" The king demanded, sweeping the same hand he'd used to throw as a signal that the main event was about to start.

Loor felt somewhat deafened as she stared at the object she'd managed to snag out of the air. The the sound pounding around her ears one might have figured her distracted, but it was getting to the point that she just didn't care about it any more. On the other hand, the thing she was holding had almost all of her attention. Held tightly by hands that had only just managed to pull it out of the air, a pistol shined in the light. Similar to the one she'd possessed in Haven, though with a little more heft to it, she had no doubt it would fit into her holster and likely fire in almost the exact same way.

A glance to Jak said that he'd been armed in kind; a model of the morph gun had already been turned to the correct position, his hands brushing over the surfaces to make sure it was in good repair before engaging its only mod; the basic scattergun. Hardware in hand, Jak wore a small smile that could only be described as devious.

"Prepare the arena for full combat!" Pecker echoed.

Damas, apparently, was not used to having an echo. "I just said that." He snapped, though Loor imagined he wasn't particularly irritated. It seemed that was just the way he spoke; intense about everything.

Pecker, fearing a horrible mis-step that had a possibility of putting his safety in danger, at once ducked his head. "I-I know... I was just adding... you know, how you do the thing with the..." He quickly realized the futility of trying to explain himself, mumbling the last of his plea. "Anyway... prepare the warriors!"

The response occurred at once; Loor had to turn and look again as she heard and felt the mechanical monster behind them stretching its bones again, the platforms that had just been used as an obstacle course changing into a much more flat platform that sank down closer to the ground. A glance was all she got though, turning to face forward again and hold her new pistol correctly. By the weight she knew she had a full clip of ammunition, but that was no reason to get cocky... and yet, for some reason, she was grinning in just that manner.

The heat graced the back of her neck, anticipation coursing through her mind as she felt it. Wherever it was that she was sensing eco, the source was getting closer.

"You mean we have to fight against _actual people?" _Daxter sounded shocked. He must have figured that animals from the wasteland would be brought in, and granted Loor had thought that as well for some time... but the fact that she'd be expected to fight for her life against something with a human face did very little to surprise her... and even less to perturb her. The idea of taking a human life was unpleasant, but her mind accepted it without protest. "With actual weapons? Who actually wanna hurt us?"

Jak's own face had taken on a somewhat beastly smile. "Fine!" He declared over the rumbling of machines behind them. "Bring 'em on!"

Daxter made a sudden leap to the floor. "All right, that's it!" The ottsel pointed up to Damas. "I wanna be on _his_ shoulder!"

"Fat chance." Loor managed a snicker, despite the situation. "But you could try mine for a while and see if it fits your fancy. I've even got armor for you to sit on now."

Daxter took this into consideration before hopping towards Loor, using her holsters as hand holds to scale up her back and find his way to her shoulder as she and Jak proceeded to the lift that would take them down to the still-forming battleground. In moments he had himself situated with one hand in her hair. "Ah, leather seats and a better view!" Daxter was snickering as he leaned his head out to look across Loor at Jak, who had boarded the lift at her side. "Jak, I'm sorry, but I might have to trade in. Insurance reasons and all, you know."

"Really think you can get a better rate with her?" Jak followed the joke with a smirk. "I donno, imported goods can sometimes cause trouble."

Daxter started laughing as Loor blinked in confusion. "Imported?" She questioned, wondering what she was missing. It sounded like a nationality joke.

Tension returned as both boys looked like they suddenly wanted to swallow their tongues. They'd forgotten in the moment of prodding that she didn't remember, and that it was Jak's personal policy to wait and see if her mind would recover on its own. Daxter looked like he had something to say that may or may not have helped the situation, but it didn't matter because the lift hit it's target level with a clunk and a shudder that left them more focused on catching their balance.

Looking up, a square platform of metal had been provided for them. Hatches in the floor were open, revealing caches of ammunition that both she and Jak at once moved to take advantage of. Loor knew that when it came to bullets it was always best for her to have as much as she could carry, hooking cartridges on her belts as well as tucking extras into the pouch on her hip. As her hand worked to pad her ammo supply, her eyes remained up to further gauge what they were working with. At first it just looked like a flat platform with nothing else to it, and they were quite, quite alone. Then, as the lift rose up again to block their escape, something else was lowering down from the walls.

Metal pipes came down slowly, four in all; one for each side of the field. Rounded squares, easily large enough for a man to walk through without bending his head, and capped on the end with a sturdy metal door. Eventually they were lowered to make solid contact with the platform, and Loor found herself backing into the center of the ring, turning to keep her eye on all of them. Jak was doing the same, his weapon held ready as the crowd began to grow eerily quiet.

With a _hiss_ and a _bang_ the metal blockades on the ends of the pipes came open, revealing nothing but darkness inside.

Darkness and a metallic smell that made Lyra come to attention.

Loor and Jak stood back-to-back, Daxter crouched over Loor's shoulder now and clinging to her armor. The arena seemed almost disturbingly silent, and time was momentarily lost. In this moment of absolute stillness, Loor felt her heart beating. It thudded in her chest and her temples, spreading the desperate itch to move as her senses honed in on the compass needle in her body that would always point her to the closest source of her addiction.

It was getting closer. She could almost feel the sparks.

Sound began to come out of the pipes; the rhythmic thudding of feet on the run. Other banging came as well as grunts and growls; the sounds of humanity on the move and getting closer, as well as the scraping and thudding of metal on metal. She and Jak ended up settling on a diagonal line of sight, both of them able to see two pipes by focusing on the corners of the playing field, keeping all four of them covered in the process. It was a good way to start, though the chances of them staying that way were rather low. They both liked to gun and run.

The steps were louder now, the pipes swaying with the motion. How many people were they facing?

How many did they have to kill to prove their worth to the city of Spargus?

The crowd exploded into a frenzy of noise when the first of their adversaries appeared, leaping from the darkness of the pipe and an bestial howl. It was a man, the first of many to come streaming out of the four pipelines, dressed in rags and covered in splashes of blood both new and old. A dirty creature, wearing a mask of leather and loose bandages over poorly tended wounds. The others were similar in all the same ways, dirty and damaged, and hardly human in their mannerisms. They acted more like half-mad animals, all armed in the most basic of ways with various melee weapons; swords, long bladed poles, spiked clubs, and other things of the sort. Nothing that required more than the few neurons it took to pick something up and swing while avoiding the sharp bits.

And the eco...

Loor didn't have time to think about it, picking her targets and firing quickly.

In moments, she wouldn't need to think about it; the truth would reveal itself in droplets of purple blood spraying out from the skull of a fallen enemy. Brief and visceral sprays that would act like acid for most, but brought Loor to a different mindset as her body adsorbed the energy that landed on her skin.

She'd found the source.

Her pistol was forgotten after the second clip, yanking a bladed stick from a fallen enemy and instead dashing into the fray. How many of these crazed warriors were on this platform; she didn't bother to guess. She didn't care; she threw herself into the shifting sea of muscle in search of blood. Or, more particularly, the eco carried on it. Her mouth was open; screaming and becoming just as mad as they were.

She was losing it. She knew she was losing it. Fire and energy snapping up her spine was starting to strike into her brain, an agonizing ecstasy pulsing through and sending her into blindness.

She didn't remember anything else.

* * *

><p>Loor came back with a shock. The hot air of the arena felt cool in her lungs, and she coughed as it came back out. The noise of the crowd was shocking when she'd just come back from the silence of her mindscape, like the untimely awakening from a particularly comfortable nap. She was on her feet, her knees unsteady as she realized both gravity and the fact that she had what looked to be half of a person still in her hands. Letting go and backing away, she turned to get her bearings as fast as possible.<p>

Better than thirty bodies had to be splayed about the place, several of them at her feet, all of those ripped to pieces and bleeding out. She saw no living enemies, which caused the panting she was now indulging in to slow, along with her heart rate.

Emerging from a similar pile of bodies and body parts was Jak, messy with blood and similarly disoriented. He didn't seem to be having as bad a time with it though, getting his balance and stepping forward, looking to her. In a moment of eye contact they shared an understanding of what had happened; dangerous as it was they had both cut loose.

"Wow, Loor, you actually managed to stay standing this time."

Loor jumped slightly, reminded that Dax was still on her shoulder and thus spoke right next to her ear. Whipping her head to the ottsel and still trying to keep her balance, she heard scattered laughing in the still on-looking crowd. "J-jeez! Daxter..."

The ottsel laughed, leaning forward to smile in her face as she turned her head to him, her feet slowly finding a path towards Jak, who was already walking for the lowered lift. They had survived, she realized, and passed their test. Now it was time to face Damas. "You are _way_ too high-strung, sweetie. C'mon, you still know how to walk a straight line, don'tcha? Though I guess you usually pass out after you go all crazy like that... must be kinda strange to still be standing, eh?"

"S-strange..." She agreed, a hand dragging through her hair and almost taking her sodden scarf with it. A mixture of sweat and blood coated her hands and face, she realized. "I decided not to go to sleep this time." She then added, reminded of the time she'd spent in her head. Without Lyra it was oppressively silent within the mindscape, and sleep was her usual escape from that. This time she'd been too worried about the outcome of the fight, too preoccupied with the world she'd left.

"You alright?"

A glance up told her that she'd made the lift and Jak was waiting up for her, a steady hand offered to contrast her rather shaky stance. Blinking her discomfort away, she managed to stand up straight and nod, waving off his hand and getting onto the lift. "Good enough for now."

Daxter, unsure of his current perch, hopped over to Jak's shoulder as the lift took them back up to Damas. Loor didn't blame him, still taking stock. She liked it better when she passed out after Lyra took over; it gave her more time to come back to the world and check herself over before she had to worry about what was going on around her. She found the pistol she'd been given was clumsily holstered on her leg, and made a point of fixing the strap over the butt of the gun so it was snapped in properly. Aside from that it would seem that she was completely intact; no damage to herself or her clothes, just spots of blood that would probably never wash out.

The lift arrived at the top with a bump, and she remained focused on her boots as she and Jak returned to the platform. They stood before Damas once more, awaiting his final assessment of them.

In the process of lifting her head, she found her awareness violently yanked to the side. A pain bloomed in her skull that sat like ice in her brain, making her wince and stare off to the right, searching for the reason. At the edge of the stands, on the platform before the door that would take them back out of this place, stood a pair of people. The first she recognized at once as the masked man, staring back from behind the dark lenses in his ever-present disguise. The other was a shorter person that had no clear identifiers to being male nor female who wore face paint. A completely white face in this dirty place was striking, as well as the orange and yellow accents laid over it, but their dark red eyes were the true show-stealer.

Eyes that seemed to cut, sending out cold and painful energy that had gotten Loor's attention as well as Jak's, like a tangible feeling of malice in the painted person's gaze.

"Something you're not telling us?" Damas's voice brought attention back to the front-and-center, making Loor lose her place again, having to concentrate on keeping her knees straight. "Two of a kind, a couple of animals in my desert, looking for a new home."

Pecker, up on Damas's arm again instead of the floor, took this time to jump in. "They have both been touched with dark eco, my liege."

Daxter rolled his eyes at Pecker's dramatic choice of words, hopping down to the ground in front of his friends to explain. "These two get all mean and nasty when you piss 'em off!" He then grinned, holding up his hand like he was telling a secret. "So don't piss 'em off. Word to the wise!"

Damas got it, and it finally caused a smile to spread across his hardened face. "Ah... then they are a pair of _dangerous_ animals, and that could be useful." His tone actually seemed pleased, gesturing down to the altar on the platform below. Loor hadn't noticed it before, but in looking she found an assortment of goodies arranged for them. The first was a bronze trinket, the second a little black box that reminded her of the passes in Haven used to get past automated gates, the third being a black and yellow piece of metal that she recognized as a new mod for the morph gun that was likely meant as a prize for Jak, and another piece of metal that looked like a long-ish tube with a textured grip in the middle.

That tube belonged to her; it looked like a lower tech version of her juice rod; a melee weapon to go with her pistol.

"As a team you have earned your first battle amulet." Damas explained as they both stepped forward to claim their various goodies. "You will earn your citizenship to Spargus if you are victorious in two more arena fights, but for now you have earned a gate pass and the right to come and go as you please from the city. But beware, for there is no true refuge outside our walls, and the desert is less kind than I. And finally, for your victory, we award you with new weaponry."

"Just one gate pass, I note..." Loor muttered, though she was happy to pick up the rod and find it functioned nearly exactly like her old one form Haven; a squeeze to the center grip caused it to expand into a long weapon with blades on either end. It lacked the feature to shock her enemies into submission, but the blades were longer and ever-so-slightly hooked.

"Hey, they found us together." Jak pointed out in the same low tone, handing the gate pass to her for safe keeping. "You got a problem with sticking together?"

"Not really."

"Oh yeah, now we're talking!" Daxter had leapt up, reaching for Jak's new gun mod, as if it were meant for him. Jak, with only a small snicker to his friend's antics, snatched up the new piece and quickly attached it to his weapon. "Hey!" Dax protested, his feet kicking at the air as he held himself up on the alter with just his arms. "What do I get? Nothin'..." He huffed, rolling his eyes and dropping down. "As usual!"

Loor found herself only mildly entertained by Daxter's antics. No, most of her attention was focused on looking back to where she'd seen the masked man standing with the paint-faced person. She wanted to know what the deal was with them.

Sadly, they were gone.

* * *

><p><strong>The Author's Corner<strong>

Gonna make this quick cause I skipped my bath to finish this before work! I love you all so very much. I mean it; everyone who has been reviewing or even just reading, you make me all so happy in this tough time of my life. You are all awesome. All of you. The people reading the first book right now, the people keeping up with the updates, all of you! You all decided to be open-minded and try a type of fic that is usually total shit, and because of that you're all amazing.

MEOW

-Loor


	21. Newbies

**Disclaimer: I do not own Jak and Daxter. And no, I don't know why my chapter output goes up when I should be doing something else... y'know, like... packing for my move. Yeah. That. Fuck it I just boxed up all my manga and now I'm sad. **

**Vacation or War-Endgame  
><strong>**Chapter Twenty One-Newbies**

Leaving the arena took some time, seeing as Jak had advised that perhaps it would be best for them to wait until the spectators had cleared out. They _had_ been the last fight of the day, and the sea of humanity was on the move before Damas had even finished awarding them their prizes. Loor guessed she couldn't complain though, seeing as she had no particular inclination to join the crush for the door. So instead she, Jak, and Daxter waited for the crowd to thin.

"We shouldn't do that again." Jak said, only loud enough to get above the din of people.

Loor gave him a sideways look, raising an eyebrow at him. "Ain't like we got a choice, buddy-boy." She pointed out, assuming he was talking about the fight they'd just gotten through. It was rather unpleasant, carving up half-mad versions of her fellow man, but in the name of survival it had to be done... though she still wondered why those men had still been alive. They'd all bled purple, meaning eco contamination, and yet she'd seen no major mutations. Instead they'd all just acted like mad dogs.

"No." He shook his head, frowning a bit. He was really getting the battle-hardened wastelander look down. "Changing at the same time. It's dangerous. Just one of us is bad enough, but both...?" He shook his head. "One of us is going to wake up missing pieces. We got lucky this time."

"Hey, at least the beasties impressed Damas!" Daxter threw in, trying to see the silver lining in all this. "I mean... as impressed as the guy gets. He's got a serious stone-face going on, like a perma-glower or something."

"I suppose..." Loor agreed slowly, the eco question still bothering her mind. She looked back at the battle field they'd left behind, curiosity distracting her from the conversation at hand. What she saw made distraction change to disgust; she saw some of the apprentices that followed the masked man around... collecting the bodies of the fallen, lifting them into carts that were fitted to the pipes that had let the warriors into the arena in the first place. "... what are they doing...?" She had to wonder out loud and with some disgust at the way the dead were being handled. She had to wonder why they weren't just tossed into the gears below; she was sure those who failed at their fights probably were.

"Ew..." Daxter had looked when she spoke. "Not a job I'd want. Whaddya think they do with 'em?"

"Probably burn them." Jak answered. "Don't want to give the metal heads out here a free meal, or attract them to the city."

"I..." Loor was staring, her mind twisting around a concept that she couldn't quite grasp. "I'm not too sure about that. Those men were like monsters... like..." She blinked, a tight frown on her face. "Kinda like us, only not so fucked up on the outside."

"Well, think about it, sweetheart." Daxter said. "Haven tosses out its scum to the wasteland, right? In a community of nasty characters that weren't fit for one city, you gotta imagine this city has to have something pretty nasty as punishment for its own. For all we know when you piss off Mr. Sand King you get dosed with some of the dark stuff and sent into the arena as cannon fodder."

"Possibly." She gave with a nod. "But I don't think it's quite that simple..." She then shook her head, aware that she likely wouldn't be getting answers to any of these questions any time soon, and she didn't have enough information to puzzle it out herself. "Speaking of simple though, we might as well try to keep things simple and figure out what's next. It looks like we're free to do as we please until the next arena fight... No one has tried to escort us off elsewhere yet, anyway."

"Which is good, because I'm actually pretty curious to see this place during the day for once." Daxter huffed, looking up to see the thinning crowd. The arena was slowly becoming quiet as all the spectators left, cuing them to begin moving for the door themselves. "I mean, why do they go to all the trouble of keeping us clueless in the first place? Jeez, you'd think they're hiding something out here or somethin'!"

"Their way of life." Loor intoned with little feeling. "Anyway, the people who took us through the city never used force on us. We coulda just walked out of the practice building if we felt like it... I've noticed a lot of this place revolves around maintaining free will, of a sort. We had to _choose_ to survive. Now that we have, we're free to start exploring."

"Buncha blow-hards if you ask me..." Daxter muttered, looking unimpressed. Of course, that might've been because he didn't do much in a full-blown fight aside from shout the occasional wise-crack. "More to survival than just the nasty stuff."

"You wanna talk to Damas on how he can improve his citizenship criteria?" Loor asked dryly, the trio falling in line with some of the last people who were leaving.

"No thank you!" The ottsel shook his head smartly. "I don't feel like getting skinned this week."

Daxter and Loor shared a short chuckle, but Jak was clearly not into the current conversation. His face still looked rather serious as he led the way up to and through the door that would take them back to the hall they'd used as a waiting room. From there they would be able to go outside and finally see Spargus, as well as start learning a little more about their situation. Loor had no idea what direction they'd take from here, but she once again felt her mind derailing from complex thought. As the smile fell from her face she felt a hard expression, similar to Jak's, coming to take its place; she felt full of angry and aggressive energy after the change, as well as the burning in her guts. Letting Lyra loose had aggravated her own sickness, and she imagined it was the same for Jak.

Passing the door, Loor noted that the hall was mostly empty. A few people were just going out the bright portal to the outside, talking about something that she couldn't pick up on, and one man was leaning on the wall, turned mostly away from them. At first she figured to ignore him, since Jak certainly wasn't slowing down to say hello, but that changed when he spoke.

"Those were some pretty sweet moves in the arena, kids... but a little more choke, and you woulda popped, eh?"

His head turned to them as he spoke, a man of considerable girth and only a greasy ring of leftover blond hair clinging to a mostly bald head, along with a mustache that looked like refurbished roadkill. Like the other wastelanders he was dressed in scraps of cloth covered by bits of leather, armor, and the straps for his weaponry, not least of which was a sizable gun on his back. His voice was rough, holding a vague threat at all times.

Jak stopped suddenly, eyes narrowing on the guy. "You talking to us?" He nearly spat the words.

"Yeah!" Daxter was also looking, since by anyone's standards they'd done quite well in the arena. Granted, the two main fighters of the outfit didn't even remember most of the brawl. "You talkin' to... them?" The ottsel gestured towards his partners, apprehensive of being counted with them just yet with this guy looking over his shoulder at them.

The man suddenly came free of the wall, rounding to face them head-on and glaring slightly. "No! I'm conversing with me sweet departed mum!" He said while clapping his hands together; meaty things that made the sound of a small gunshot, before gesturing to the trio. "Of course you, ya bore heads. You three are from the Big Smoke, eh?"

Head-on, Loor was able to see a bit more of this man; mainly the scars on him. Cracked and angry red skin on his face, nicks in his ears, as well as on his arms and what she could see of his legs, made her think he was one of the longer lived wastelanders. Chewed up as he was, it meant he'd been out here, and survived, for a long time.

"Who's asking?" Jak hadn't let his guard down just yet, hands open and ready to reach for his gun if he had to.

"The guy who runs this place, that's who. Kleiver's the name." The wastelander introduced himself with a hand pressed to his chest and the other out as a gesture of possible hospitality. "You blokes, and the sheila of course, stick with me, and I'll take care of ya."

"Take care of us?" Loor shared Jak's distrust of the sudden unfamiliar and none too pretty face. "How so?"

Kleiver's brow furrowed, as if he didn't like being questioned. Loor imagined that most wouldn't, confronted with his height and size and what was likely a rather nasty temper, but she didn't find herself particularly fearful of the look on his face. He seemed to detect that, maintaining the odd smile he wore under his ratty mustache. "So you all just finished your first arena fight, eh? Whoopty freakin' do, as I say. They'll throw more at ya every time, and unless you start learning how things work around here and gettin' in good with Damas, you'll never survive. How do ya do that? You start workin' around the city. You do some odd jobs for me to scratch my back, I scratch yours by tellin' Damas you're good and useful pups that're eager to work." His sarcastic drawl came back, his smile taking on a slightly more dangerous look. "Does that sat-is-fy the lady?"

Loor growled softly, an offensive reply on the tip of her tongue.

"Sounds good." Jak hopped in before she could say it. "Got anything to start?"

Kleiver nodded, waving them along as he began to walk towards the opening that would lead them out to the city. "For you kids, I think we'll start with something simple, eh? You could say the city has a bit of a rat-problem, an' to that end we've got leaper lizards all about the place, like these two."

Looking up, Loor saw that Kleiver had been more then ready for them. This 'offer' of his was as well planned as an ambush, one she imagined he'd had in mind for whomever caught his eye that day. They just happened to be the lucky ones. In the doorway to the outside were two creatures that stood slightly taller than herself. Balanced on two brawny legs and scaly from snout to the end of their tails, they were fitted with saddles and reigns that identified the creatures as mounts. One was rusty red, the other a drab green, and both of them bounced and waffled as if they had energy to spare and an eager mind to use it. Their arms, though short and stubby, reminded her of a bats wings with thin lines of bones connected by leathery membrane, making her think these creatures were just a few evolutionary jumps short of a dragon. Either way, by the look of their legs, she had no doubt the name of these creatures was rather self-explanatory. She also had no doubt that riding one would likely be fun and frightening.

"Lizards eat the rats, ya see?" Kleiver continued as Loor scrutinized the animals, stepping up to the green one and gently grabbing it by the reins to get it to lower its head and pat its snout. They were actually kinda cute, and the one she was patting didn't mind the attention. "Only after we saddle train 'em, they ain't so apt to go chasing after the rats on their own. Ride these two and snag all the rats they'll eat; you'll find 'em crawling all over the place. I'd say five or six apiece'll keep these two fat and happy and keep them buggers out of me storerooms. Lemme know when you're done, and I'll let you drive one of me racing vehicles... that is, if Damas ever lets you leave the city."

Jak nodded in satisfaction; it did sound like a pretty easy start. "I think we can handle that." He said before Loor could correct Kleiver on the fact that they already had a pass to come and go form the city as they liked. He must have left the arena before they'd been presented with their prizes.

"Nooo!" Daxter whined as Jak stepped up to the other leaper. "I hate riding animals! They make me chafe..."

"Live with it, Dax." Loor snickered while coming around the side of the animal she'd been petting to inspect the saddle. Something about the build of it was both familiar to her and not. She wondered if she'd ever ridden before. "Unless you'd rather chase down some rats yourself and save us the trouble of getting saddle sore."

"_Ew!_" Dax groused while Jak approached the other mount, stepping up into the stirrup and swinging his leg over with confidence. "Loor, that's almost cannibalism for me!"

"Mind your pet, newbies." Kleiver advised with a smirk. "If it looks like a rat and holds still long enough, a leaper will go for it, don't matter if it talks."

"Joy..." Loor muttered, stepping up herself to get onto her lizard. The animal responded to her weight at once, making a noise that sounded like a falsetto croak of a bullfrog and stretching its little arms while it shifted slightly to keep its center of gravity despite the fact that she was leaning forward and still trying to get comfortable in the saddle. She hadn't even grabbed the reins yet, holding onto the horn of the saddle while trying to get the spikes on her boots to fit proper in the stirrups. As she leaned over either side to manually guide the leather strap around her somewhat dangerous footwear, she could feel the others staring at her. Flustered and embarrassed, she was thankful that the harsh wasteland sun had already darkened her face enough that her blush was difficult to detect.

"Another point off of this place." Daxter sounded even less impressed by Kleiver's little warning. "Hot, dry, and the local beasts of burden might try to eat me. Jak, remind me why I decided to follow you out here?"

"You're asking me?" Jak shot back with none of Daxter's natural levity. "I told you to go back to the city."

"It's cause he loves us, right Dax?" Loor threw in, trying to pick up her mood. As serious as she felt she knew Daxter would whine if she and Jak both acted icky for too long. "C'mon, let's go catch some rats."

Saddled up and ready to go, Jak was first to give his lizard a kick and get the animal moving towards the outside. Loor followed suit, picking up the reins and winding the leather straps around her hands. The leaper responded quickly and easily, taking steady steps forward behind Jak's animal and falling in line.

Facing the outside, the three of them finally got to see Spargus for the first time in full daylight. Loor openly gaped at the view of the noon-time sun beating down on sandstone buildings that were built up several stories high; civilization built up out of the desert wilderness while retaining the savage and violent aesthetic the wastelanders seemed to have their identify as a people built around. Everything she could see was made out of natural materials and pieces of scrap metal, spiced up by the occasional awning over someone's door of brightly colored fabric. The streets were little more than sandy pathways that remained between buildings, packed down hard by many feet over many years whilst being sheltered from the ever-churning wind that swept the rest of the island. Above it all, attached to some of the tallest buildings, windmill blades turned.

As built up as it was, a certain fragility was reflected in the city as well. Cracks and wear in the sandstone foundations of buildings, cacti trying to grow on the edges of paths, and the lack of regularity to the structures that made the place up, all gave Loor an uneasy feeling. As if, should something go wrong, this would place would just dry up and blow away.

Jak had been at her side, both of their animals stopping at the edge of the long set of stairs leading down. They'd climbed these stairs to get up to the arena, and now it seems like their animals were going to need a little more encouragement before they'd descend them.

"Not bad for a buncha ruffians living in the desert." Daxter noted, also looking out at the city. "How long d'ya think they've been out here?"

"Probably as long as Haven has been using this place as a dumping ground." Loor suggested. "People have this knack for surviving against all the odds, no matter what's thrown at them..." She let her gaze wander to Jak, who had glanced at her when she made that comment. There was a beat of silence, and his eyes grew a little less hard. She offered a smile as she saw some of the irrational after-transformation rage leaving him, and felt some tension lifting off of herself as well. She didn't have to say it, because they were both thinking it.

_Not dead yet. _

It was becoming their mantra; and it seemed to be helping. Loor wondered if they should tell Daxter about the fact they were dying, seeing as the ottsel would find out sooner or later, but right now didn't seem to be the time to mention it. Instead Jak looked back out and gave his leaper a stiff kick to send it down the stairs and into the city.

He let off a noise of surprise when the leaper, instead of walking down the stairs, tensed and took a gallivanting jump forward, spreading and flapping its small wing-like arms in the first moments of powered ascent and then leaving them wide out for a long descent. What it was doing was far from flying, but it was a rather effective glide that had Jak and Daxter laughing like boys by the time they landed at the base of the stairs, the leaper raring to keep going after its large and wide feet took hold in the sandy street.

Loor had watched, somewhat speechless, before doing the same. Expecting the jump did not change the rush she got as the leaper flung itself into the air with all the strength contained in its brawny legs, whooping on the way down as the stairs rushed by her, thankful for her now short hair as longer strands would have most likely fallen into her face upon landing and obscured her vision. She laughed while yanking back on the reins, the leaper trying to run as it landed but stopping when its head was pulled back, letting off a noise of complaint and disappointment. After only a moment Loor pulled to the side to get the animal to turn, facing Jak with a stupid and gleeful smile on her lips, glancing back up at the top of the stairs and feeling somewhat in awe of the creature she was riding.

She also saw Kleiver at the top, who was not alone. It looked like someone had been behind even them in leaving the arena; a man who stood even taller than Kleiver with bright blond hair and an intensely narrow build. At this distance it was difficult to make anything else out about him, and Loor was forced to stop trying when Jak turned his animal to get back to the task at hand, spurring the creature into a run down the lane that forced her to get her head back on straight and follow before she lost him in the mishmash of buildings.

She still wondered about the other man she saw though. The inside of her skull was itching again; she thought she might've seen him before.

The ghost of a memory left her frustrated, giving her only an image of an obscure face with a beaming smile. That didn't sound like anyone who might live out here.

* * *

><p><strong>The Author's Corner<strong>

NEW CHAPTER! YAY!

Hi everyone, how are we doing? My oh my I've got mystery men everywhere, don't I? Of course, some more mysterious than others...

MEOW! I fly in 8 days everyone, and I'm guessing you know what that means... Shit is about to get turbulent and slow. I love you all, bare with me!

-Loor


	22. Responsibility

**Disclaimer: I do not own Jak and Daxter. **

**Vacation or War-Endgame  
><strong>**Chapter Twenty Two- Responsibility**

"Got an interest in the newbies, do ya?" Kleiver asked casually before he actually looked at who he was talking to. "Never pinned you a nipper for sneaking around."

There was a few moments of silence before the man in hiding gave up his spot just around the corner, peeking his head out and letting the rest of himself follow. "Oh... well..." His voice was oddly soft for this setting; it wasn't the type of tone you'd expect from a wastelander. Of course, it wasn't the type you'd expect from a Krimzon Guard either, and the tattoos were plain on the man's face. "I suppose you could say I've got an interest, yeah. An interest I don't want them to know about."

"Knew 'em back in the Big Smoke?" Kleiver ventured, finally turning his big body the fraction that was needed to sight the man who was still warily coming out of hiding. He was a tall bean-pole of a man, mid twenties with dark tan skin and bright blond hair. Service tattoos still stood out against his bronze hide, as did big brown eyes that also looked just a tad out of place in such a rough-and-tumble setting. No longer new, but far from a veteran; his clothes were still in fair repair, although incredibly dirty. "Don't tell me you want me to treat 'em nice, do ya?"

"No, nothing like that." He finally stepped into the sun that streamed in from the outside, watching as the trio of Jak, Daxter, and Loor hit the bottom of the stairs on a pair of leaper lizards, laughing like a bunch of kids having a good time. "I just wanna keep an eye on them, myself... but I've gotta keep busy too."

Loor, her black hair calling out like a beacon in the bright sun, looked back up the stairs. The tall man flinched like he had a mind to hide, but stood his ground as she stared up with curiosity.

"Hide in plain sight if you wanna hide at all, pup." Kleiver advised without questioning motive. "You're a tricky one, you'll figure it out."

He hefted a short sigh and a nod, watching as Jak suddenly turned his mount to bolt down into the city, Loor following with a short yelp of protest for being left behind. "_That's_ not the hard part." He said shortly, beginning to move to head down the stairs himself. "They present a lot of questions for me."

"This ain't the place for mysteries." Kleiver dismissed with the wave of a meaty hand. "You got too much mind for a warrior, Ryan. We don't need no more spies."

Ryan, a somewhat grim line across his face blocking out the usual smile he tended to wear, only nodded without looking back at Kleiver. Kleiver was always the 'shoot first' type. More of a 'shoot always' type, really, but he didn't understand the bigger implications of what was going on here. Kleiver would likely never know the strings Ryan himself had pulled to see that Loor and Jak were kept together, even for their tests when groups were usually separated, nor would he know the new problems that scrappy dark-haired-girl posed by simply existing.

Loor wasn't supposed to be here. Last Ryan had heard, she was going to go home, just like his sister. But his sister had returned not even moments past her departure, a broken being with a mutilated body and warnings on her lips that were more babbled than spoken. And now not just Loor, but Jak, had both arrived in the last place Ryan expected to see them.

"Why are you here...?" He muttered to himself as he reached the bottom of the stairs, taking a different route into the city than the one he'd seen them take. "It's dangerous for us all. Loor... what are you doing...?"

* * *

><p>"Jeez these things can pack it away!" Loor exclaimed as her mount finally caught its sixth rat; a large and dark orange colored thing that looked like it shouldn't have fit inside the leaper's mouth, but the lizard gulped down in one motion all the same. "No wonder they have so much energy..."<p>

"Eugh..." Daxter groused as Loor's animal made a smacking noise, finishing with the rat. Its nose dipped toward the ground to sniff about for other possible treats. "They gotta work on their table manners though... _nasty._"

"Pretty clean if you ask me." Loor snickered while patting the side of the leaper's neck, watching as its head came back up and it snorted to get the sand off of its snout. "At least they don't drool or nothing icky like that. Either way, I'd say this job is done, which means time to report back to Kleiver, right...?" She blinked, realizing something. "Did he even say where we could find him? We had all our stuff taken away in Haven, and even if we did have comm. units out here I somehow doubt Spargus has a mapping grid like Haven does..."

Jak shrugged, dismounting the leaper he'd been riding and leading it by the bit to stand in the shade of a nearby building. Loor had snagged her final rat in a narrow space between two buildings, but the whole adventure had given them a blurred tour of Spargus. If asked, Loor could find her way back to the arena or the practice building they'd trained at, or even the lift up to Damas's throne room. There was still a lot to learn, but she was starting to get the layout of the place. "We'll explore some more, and we'll see him whenever we run into him." Jak said dismissively, making a motion to Loor that asked if she needed help getting down from her saddle.

Loor was still arguing with getting her spiked boots out of the stirrups. She really hoped she never got thrown by one of these things; her boots would guarantee that she'd be drug along for some time instead of simply falling free. "They've gotta have communications devices out here." She groused while getting one foot loose and working on the other. "You can't organize a city without some way of communicating quickly and efficiently when stuff is happening... With that clockwork nightmare in the arena, I'm downright positive there's gotta be some other technological muscle hiding out around here."

"You sound awful insistent about that..." Daxter noted as she finally got her other foot free, swinging one leg over and sliding off the side of the leaper to the ground. "And excited."

"I'm curious, is all." She batted back while rubbing her legs. The fact that her hands and body had known what to do with all the riding stuff said she'd ridden before, but the muscles in her thighs told her it must not have been any time recently. She was also positive she'd never ridden a leaper before; something about the way she'd been sitting astride it and working with the animal to keep the center of gravity in the right place had been completely new to her. Whatever creature she'd ridden before, it had been much more stable. "We gotta be useful to stay, right? I like taking things apart and seeing how they work... maybe there's something out here I can improve."

Jak shook his head, leading her leaper to shade before giving her a small push to start walking. "Let's just stick to exploring and hitting stuff for now." He advised, looking uncomfortable talking about her mechanical aptitude. Back at their apartment in Haven, assuming the place hadn't been cleaned out by now, was a notebook she'd been working in; full of numbers and values fitted into equations that she didn't remember the purpose of. Using her brain that way did wonders for her mood on any given night, but Jak had always eyed that notebook of hers with apprehension and suspicion. The discomfort he was expressing now reminded her a lot of the looks he'd given her then.

"What's wrong with it?" She asked as her feet complied, despite the sore muscles in her legs. A few stumbled steps in the sand soon turned to a steady gait as Jak walked along side her, leading the way back to what seemed like a main thoroughfare for Spargus. One way led under a rocky shelf and towards the lift for Damas's throne room. The other way, the way they were now going, led out to sunshine and a rugged cliff line before the ocean. "Am... Am I bad at it? I'm yet to actually get my hands on any real materials... I haven't tried to build anything yet..."

"Bad at it?" Daxter hopped in before Jak could answer her. "You kidding, sweets? You really impressed one of the underground's major techy guys back before your head got scrambled."

"Really?" She felt surprised and relieved at this revelation, though Jak's look of discomfort grew darker when she looked between him and Daxter. She noted, in a moment of traded glances, Dax's smile also fell. "Then... what's up?"

"That stuff got you into trouble before." Jak said. "You could say it was an accident of that nature that landed you in Haven in the first place."

"So what?" She asked while trotting slightly to get ahead of the boys, walking backwards to look at them head-on. "I'm still here, right? It couldn't have been that bad of an accident if I came out with all my pieces attached, right? And despite all the other shit that happened with the Baron's prison and all that, I'm still breathin'. So whatever trouble I caused before couldn't have been _too_ terrible."

"Finally, a little positivity!" Daxter rejoiced. "Day above ground beats a day below it, right sweet cheeks?" The ottsel then doubled back to the agitation Jak seemed to be gathering in a cloud around himself. "Still... maybe Jakkie-boy is right... stick with hittin' stuff for now and worry about the brainy stuff later."

Loor suddenly stopped, causing Jak to nearly crash into her with the abrupt halt. Her hands came out to grab him by the shoulders, glaring at him despite the fact that Daxter had been talking.

"Why?" She demanded.

Jak blinked, aqua eyes focusing in and then shutting with a shake of his head. "You don't want to know." He then tried to pull back from her grip to continue on their way. Instead of letting him, she tightened her fingers.

"Yes, yes I do!" She declared. "What's wrong with me doing math and wanting to mess with machines? What's wrong with my fascination with energy? What's _wrong_ with me being smart?" For some reason she felt like an old and raw nerve had been touched. She felt as if she'd suffered for her brain before, or simply for being. But that didn't make sense; since when was ignorance better than intelligence?

"_You _came out with all of your pieces." He suddenly snapped at her, his own hands raising to seize her wrists and force her to unhand him. "Someone else didn't. You beat yourself up for it, blamed yourself, nearly lost yourself over it. You had a little sister when you arrived in Haven, you two escaped from prison together, joined the underground together, and then she- !"

"Jak!" Daxter hopped in before Jak could articulate the ugly place this conversation was obviously going.

Loor's eyes had widened, her jaw falling slightly open as her fingers first clenched into fists and then fell limp in surrender. "I... I... what?"

Jak let go of her, beginning to walk again as she stood staring into space. A flush of heat hit the back of her neck and fell over the rest of her in embarrassment and horror.

She had a sister.

She _had_ a sister.

Past tense. She _had _a sister when she arrived in Haven. She quite obviously didn't have one now.

A little sister. Someone she had been responsible for. Someone she was trusted to take care of.

Someone she'd failed to take care of, it seemed.

"You coming?"

Her head whipped around with almost dizzying force as she heard Jak calling to her, staring up the lane before tripping over herself to follow him. She said nothing, not even muttering an apology for holding up the show. Instead she just fell in line, realizing there was more missing from her head than practical knowledge and names and faces. There was more missing than the fact that she'd fallen in love and gone through an amazing adventure and helped a hero save a city.

There was ugly stuff too.

She shuddered, and gladly left the subject where it was. She'd leave further questions about that ugliness until another day.

* * *

><p>"When did it crash?"<p>

He swore the stare Seem gave him could bore right through his mask. It was a wide gaze of shock and surprise accompanied by the demand for information, rusty red eyes surrounded by the traditional white paint worn by precursor monks who had attained mastery of themselves and the history they protected as a sacred heritage.

"We're not sure." Was his honest answer, one Seem did not wish to hear. Abandoning any task that may have been at hand at the time, the small and yet imposing monk made a motion that he responded to at once; moving aside and turning back the way he'd come so that he may lead Seem. He stepped quickly since Seem's own gait was brisk. "I'll assume it hit during the arena tests this morning, while the city was mostly empty and no one was around to see it."

"Has anyone touched it?" Seem's next question was as simple and harshly spoken as the first, having a tone that never rose but was capable of unfathomable hostility.

He cursed softly as they both stepped out into the sun, feeling a hand clench and a faint prick of shame. His own curiosity had gotten the better of him when he'd first seen it. Shocked that something so horrific had seemingly just appeared in Spargus, terrified of what it might've meant, he'd brushed his fingers on the surface before he even thought about the downright evil nature of the object. "... I did."

Seem's lips pressed into a hard line, an open palm demanding the hand he'd put in danger by touching such a twisted object. With only a slight grimace he presented his hand for inspection, checking for contamination. A shared understanding between himself and Seem led to an awareness that it was unlikely, but caution was something often rewarded in the wasteland.

Fingertips only peeking out from under tight bounds of faded cloth and leather gloves, his skin appeared normal and unblemished. "Resilient as always, Kushik." Seem spoke while dropping his palm and glancing at him from under a lowered brow. "But you must be more careful. Never mistake resistance for immunity."

He frowned behind his mask for several reasons. "Don't grace me with a name." He huffed while lacing his fingers together behind his back. Though the hand in question may have been fine, it still tingled since he'd touched the dark object on the beach. He also wanted to complain that he hadn't touched it on purpose, but didn't bother. Intent didn't matter to Seem, simply what was done or not done.

"You refuse to even grace yourself with a face. I made that mask to protect you from the desert, not your own identity. When you are able to face yourself, you can make demands of what I call you."

The frown grew deeper, but he let it go.

He didn't like to face his name, or any of his past identity. To many, even himself, he was simply the masked man; Seem's guard and veritable shadow. Granted having a past was not something exclusive to him. It was practically a prerequisite for most of the people within Spargus; all people who had been driven from Haven to the desert. Crazy enough to commit what Havenites considered an unforgivable crime, sane enough to survive, each and every person who had weathered the sands and the arena carried some kind of past with them. Either brutal or tragic, horribly misunderstood or just plain horrible, every man and woman who walked these streets and called the city home had baggage.

He didn't claim to have the worst of it. Spargus was the last place to have a 'mine's worse than yours' contest. All he claimed was his shame, and his wish to forget. Seem was right, he couldn't face himself, and the last thing he wanted was for others to recognize him. Too many familiar faces had ended up within these walls.

Faces like the two new comers. Jak and Loor. He remembered them both from the prison; test subjects under his care.

"What in Mar's great name...?"

Seem's voice brought him back to earth, the two of them approaching the object that had fallen on the beach. Several monks were with it already, keeping citizens away from it whilst waiting for Seem to examine it. Seem increased speed upon seeing it, speedily walking the final few yards.

The object looked like a mechanical squid, though much bigger, beached upon the cliffs and sand. One end, very wide and clearly very heavy, had struck the ground with enough force to make a small crater. The other, tapered down to a thin body that hung limply off of the rocks, looked to be covered in scales that appeared somewhat organic.

The whole thing was black, seeming to eat up the light around it and only reflecting back a dim purple sheen. Anyone who passed near it could likely feel the energy that made up this creature-like machine. Be it a being or a device, this thing was made up of dark eco in quite the large amount.

The circle of monks broke for Seem to pass closer to it, as well as to allow Kushik in. He always stood by Seem's side unless duty dictated otherwise, which was not often. He was not an indentured servant of any kind, though some believed him so. This was his choice; to protect the one who had saved his life.

That said, being so close to this thing made him buzz all over in the most uncomfortable way. The dark object radiated with eco energy that vibrated in his bones, making him feel even hotter than the desert sun did. Gritting his teeth, he refused to yield. Instead he stood by his mentor.

Seem's head bowed, beginning the examination of the dark satellite.

* * *

><p><strong>The Author's Corner<strong>

HOLY CRAP THE MASKED MAN HAS A NAME.

Kushik. Might be a good time to mention that's his _last_ name, not his first.

Might also be a good time to mention that I'M MOVED IN TO MY NEW APARTMENT, BITCHES!

Well, we got all the boxes up here anyways. Still aren't totally unpacked, and I'm without internet so who knows when the hell this chapter is even going up. For the record, it was finished on 7-25-2012.

Oh yeah, and in case you peeps didn't notice, I've kinda left Seem genderless thus far. In my brain meats Seem is a woman, and Loor will think of 'her' as such later in the story... but Kushik knows that Seem doesn't care as to gender, simply the work of being a monk, so from his PoV s/he is left gender ambiguous.

Imma gonna get some more sleep now... Loor is sick. .

MEOW

**Addendum: **Got internet at the house today! WOO!

-Loor


	23. Poison

**I don't own Jak and Daxter. Sorry.**

**Vacation or War-Endgame  
><strong>**Chapter Twenty Three- Poison**

The examination was conducted without Seem ever once laying hands on the mechanical monstrosity on the beach. Fingertips that hovered from place to place as the monk concentrated never drew closer than six inches, as if there were some sort of bubble in place. All others present, Kushik included, stood watch and warded away curious civilians.

Without turning, Seem began to convey some of what had been found. "It is similar to the one that fell on the great volcano." The even tone still showed displeasure and worry. "An abomination... a machine yet not. This is a twisted artifact belonging to fallen precursors." A moment passed with the shake of a head before returning to a somewhat bent posture. Then, whilst returning to the task at hand, Seem called softly. "Kushik, to me."

He'd already been standing close, closer to this thing than he wanted to be. The dark eco in its composition was something he could sense in greater detail than those around him. Even Seem, who had taught him how to channel eco energy and use it for sensing things outside one's physical body, did not possess the gift as he did. Sliding a foot to stand closer to his mentor and the machine, Seem noted the discomfort on his face and nodded. "What do you feel in it?" Was the question asked in a lower register, not meant to be heard by the monks around them.

He winced, having been blocking out the sensation. Seem was asking him to dive in and see what he could find. Within his abilities, but not really his comfort zone. Still, he'd never refused Seem to this day, and he didn't see himself starting any time soon. Facing the monstrosity head on, he only had to drop his guard and let his awareness seep forward like fog.

At once, the ache that had been wearing on his bones turned to a crushing intensity. The tingle that still persisted at his fingertips burned, the sensation lacing along his nerves to return to his brain while the combination of pain sent nausea through him. Pervading through this wave of torture, he held his ground and kept his head lowered in an effort to concentrate.

Seem watched as he stepped back again, drawing a long breath and letting it out before speaking. "It's... still alive." Kushik spoke with a mixture of confusion, curiosity, and horror. "There is still an active mind inside, but it's losing energy... it has something it's trying to..." He paused, trying to work out the information he'd gotten from it in those agonizing moments. "Deliver, I think. It can't just give it up though... it's looking for something like itself."

Seem took this information silently, not questioning what 'something like itself' might be. "It crashed to be found. We must remove it."

Kushik nodded in agreement, though he had no suggestions on getting rid of the thing. Too big to easily maneuver, even if they could touch it directly without the danger of contamination. Some cleverly placed explosives might knock it off of the cliff and into the ocean, but dropping it into the water would only spread its toxic effects further among waterborne life. Perhaps tools and time would be the better option; waiting for it to 'die' and then taking it apart to use the eco for power. Perhaps once it was dead it wouldn't feel so repulsive to him.

"Check out these funny dudes, huh... hee-hee-hee, nice threads! I didn't know rubber was back in."

A voice broke him out of his pondering; someone new had arrived that he'd failed to noticed over the sensation this dark object sent through him. A glance towards Seem said the intrusion had been ignored by all of them thus far, though Seem's lack of reaction seemed to be on purpose, not caused by negligence. Even so, he was willing to use new arrivals as an excuse to turn around and take a step away, an automatic hand falling on the hilt of the blade strapped to his hip.

He blinked behind his mask when he saw those who had come.

Jak was an easily recognizable face, particularly so to Kushik when his expression was something of a glower. Lauren was at his side, a more disturbing name and face remembered from a time that Kushik desperately wanted to forget, though more people knew her by the nickname Loor. The speaker, on the other hand, had not been either of them, but rather an animal seated upon Jak's shoulder. A rat with an expressive face and far too loud a voice.

"What are ya working on, monk boy?" The rat spoke with a grin, addressing Seem directly. Surprisingly enough, the question was not ignored.

"It is none of your concern, animal." Seem spoke without looking, inviting no further conversation.

The animal, on the other hand, took offense to the heavy-handed hint. Leaping to the ground, he stood up as if he thought himself a man, glaring up at Seem. "Look, coloring book, we've had a hard week. Don't push it!"

"More than a week..." Loor groaned softly, rolling her shoulders as if they were too stiff for her to stand. Kushik smirked to himself; he remembered that ache. She'd get over it, if she lived long enough.

Seem finally turned to face them, gaze cold and unfriendly. "The arena shows all. You both have been darkened, tainted beyond repair with hate and rage."

"The hell's that suppose to mean?" Loor spoke quickly and grouchily, beating Jak to an equally huffy response. "Unless you have something useful to say about it, why bother bringing it up?"

Seem's head swayed slightly in disappointment, perhaps pity, for doomed creatures. "It _will_ destroy you, just as these precursors destroyed themselves." A hand gestured towards the object that, Kushik realized, likely attracted both Jak and Loor to this spot, like beasts drawn to a rotting carcass.

Eyes focused upon the greatest intruder, the animal stepping forward without seeming to notice the buzzing energy that surrounded it like a corrosive field. "It doesn't look like any precursor crap we've seen."

Seem moved to explain the unspoken question of how this object could be related to the precursors. "These artifacts are an abomination. One fell on the great volcano. We sent an expedition to the mountain, but my monks never returned." Seem's hand folded into a sign used to focus the mind and the energies of the body. "Ill tidings sing in the wind... I fear the remaking of the world is at hand."

The animal blinked a couple times, making the same sign with his hand to mimic Seem. "I think you've been out in the sun... a _little_ too long." He then turned on his heel, waving at his partners. "C'mon guys, let's go. Donno why we even wandered over here in the first place..."

"You probably don't _want_ to know, Daxter..." Loor sighed, sounding irritated and exhausted.

Kushik found himself letting out a small breath of relief as the trio began to take their leave. A breath that caught as Seem stepped after them, sweeping a hand in a gesture of waring.

"You must leave this place!" Seem proclaimed, a sharper tone being far more effective than a raised one. "Heroes think they can save the world, when they _themselves_ are lost. You could not possibly understand the dark forces at work here."

Kushik indulged in a wince that no one would see behind his mask. Both Loor and Jak stopped dead, turning at once when the subject of darkness was brought up. Jak, who had been wearing a tight frown for this whole exchange, had an expression of pure anger at being told what he could and could not understand. This time he acted ahead of Loor, getting into Seem's face to snarl. "Don't talk to me about dark powers! I want to know what this thing is." He waved his own hand towards it, the motion simply made as a signal of his intentions.

It had another effect though. A spark jumped between him and the machine; a purple arc from his fingertips that the abomination reacted to. All eyes turned with various measures of surprise as a portion of the mechanical monstrosity extended forward and opened like a clawed hand; the membrane inside laced with veins that pulsed with eco energy. Jak had drawn his hand back to himself as he watched this, Loor taking a step forward and her hand hovering over the pistol strapped to her leg. They all expected something more to happen, but the movement stopped as abruptly as it had started.

The thing was waiting for something. Kushik could feel it, leaving him more than positive that Jak and Loor could as well; the energy that had simply been seeping out from it before had more focus, searching for the brief connection it had made.

It recognized Jak as something like itself. It was trying to make it's delivery, but it was still unsure. Another requirement had to be met; further communication, perhaps.

Jak glanced over to Seem and the others, and then back to Loor, before stepping forward. "Stand back."

* * *

><p>Loor could do little more than stare as Jak stepped up to the strange thing they'd ended up seeking out. It had been only moments ago that they'd finished Kleiver's task with the kangarats and started exploring Spargus in hopes of running into the hearty wastelander. Instead, she and Jak had found their way over here after being hit with the sense of eco much further down the beach. She'd moved for it without even questioning, and while Jak hesitated and tried to ask her to wait up she might as well have been deaf.<p>

She noticed that as her sickness grew stronger, so did her addiction. It wasn't until the monks blocked her path that she realized how single-mindedly she'd been pursuing the feeling of sparks in the air. She had to make a greater effort to resist it, or she was going to destroy herself.

_Faster than the taint is killing me... and that's just sad. _

"What is he doing?" Daxter asked after Jak had stepped up and then gone oddly silent. Between her sense for eco and her eyes, Loor could detect little sparks being exchanged between Jak and the strange machine. Still, she hadn't a clue to the meaning, and only shrugged as Daxter stood near her feet, waiting for his partner to come back.

"Talking to it." Another voice, one Loor dimly remembered, answered. She looked to see the masked man, the one who had cared for her and Jak since they'd been found, slightly to the left of the monk Daxter had spoken to. The monk seemed to be the one running the show, the same one who had glared with such intensity at her and Jak in the arena, but the masked man also seemed to be the monk's shadow. Both times she'd seen the monk the masked man had also been present.

Who was he? The mask obscured his face, even most of his ears, with a mixture of bronze and leather. It bothered her that he hid, finding herself glaring at him. "Really? How do you talk to a machine?"

"You could likely do it too, considering the traits you share." He intoned with a bored-sounding voice. His tone made Loor bristle, but she didn't have enough time to shoot back a retort; noise was coming from the strange machine again. All eyes turned as Jak took a step back from it, seeming to come out of some kind of trance, as the claw-like appendage closed and then opened again, producing an object.

The first thing Loor noticed was the purple shine; a object that by all rights should have appeared black, but instead gave off a crystalline light from within; it was a gem of some kind; a crystal contained within a shell of precursor bronze.

"You cracked it, Jak!" Daxter congratulated, as if Jak had been picking his way into a safe instead of talking to some sort of twisted precursor machine. At once, Jak reached out to take his apparent prize.

The monk, as if struck with horror, spoke quickly and forcefully. "Don't touch it!" They warned. "Dark eco!"

Loor, who had been desperately trying to figure out the monk's actual gender since she laid eyes on them, decided for the moment that they seemed like a she to her. Something about the voice in that brief moment of panic made her opinion lean towards feminine.

Jak, as if to spite the monk, reached out and took the crystal anyway. He suffered no harm as the machine's claw opened once more, displaying the pink membrane traced with dark veins. The monk responded only with a shocked stare.

"Yeah," Dax said as if it were obvious that Jak would be fine. "You're impressed now, aren't ya? C'mon, give him his props!" With that he clapped a little himself, as if encouraging the group of monks towards applause.

Instead of following Daxter's lead, the monk turned to Jak, taking steps forward as the aggressive aura the machine had been broadcasting began to melt away. "Those are solid eco crystals." The monk said, tone letting on only some of her astonishment. "It has been passed down through time that they power the greatest of precursor technologies." She paused, about to go on when she looked back at the machine.

The open membrane was acting like a kind of screen, flashing white symbols intermittently. To Loor, it looked as if it were losing power and was desperately trying to send a message of some kind. She crept closer to try and see it clearer, but none of the symbols appeared familiar to her.

"Strange..." The monk took greater interest than Loor, nearly getting close enough to touch it. "It speaks an ancient dialect... the earliest precursor forms."

The masked man was at full attention too. Without his face to read, all Loor could understand was the fact that he'd suddenly gone tense. Something was wrong.

The monk was too fascinated to care about possible danger. She'd made that sign with her hand again, concentration folding her face. "Something about... re-claiming this unfinished world..." Her head came up to face the masked man, receiving only a nod from him as Jak spoke.

"Those look like coordinates." Jak mused, obviously understanding what Loor failed to. "Like the ones from–"

The monk cut him off. "It is picking up a _very_ powerful signal."

Daxter, seemingly the only one with any self-preservation left, began backing way. "I don't think we're gonna like what this thing is yapping to!"

The claw-like appendage suddenly closed and retraced, the first in a set of sudden movements like the machine was floundering. Everyone jumped back as the thing kicked up a cloud of choking sand, thrashing about until some sort of propulsion system came online; hitting the ground with one last sweep of its 'tail' before becoming airborne. There was a moment of wonder and shock as it spiraled up into the air, but it seemed to be damaged and struggling.

A moment later it began to give off a bright light, heralding an earth-shaking explosion. Loor ducked her head, covering her ears a moment too late; sensitive hearing left her ears ringing as she let out a short yelp of pain. Still, regardless to that she forced herself to look up and peer through the dust. Jak had been closer to the blast; she felt the need to verify that he was okay.

He stood only inches in front of her, unharmed, with his arms thrown up to protect eyes and ears. A sigh of relief escaped her; raising her head and looking to the monk and her crew. She had her mouth open to demand what the hell that was, but the monk had even sharper words for them first.

"Even you cannot save us from _this_, heroes!" She spoke with disdain to Jak, but her lecturing tone was also directed at Loor, who felt similar rage sparking in kind. Her mouth was already open, she just had to think of something to say–

"Hey!" Daxter shouted from the ground. "I'm the real hero here!" He claimed. "You can call me... Orange Lighting! Zazzazing!" He had a huge grin on his fuzzy mug, dashing between two places as if to show off some sort of impressive speed.

The monk looked down at Dax with a similar gaze, the edge on her voice only slightly dulled. "You may carry the color of our creators, animal, but we have plans to save ourselves." Her gaze returned to Jak and Loor. "Stay out of our business." The monk turned, as if to dismiss them. "You three are not welcome here."

"Not welcome?!" Loor finally broke, her brain arranging the proper words to express her irritation. "Like there's anywhere in the world left for us to go! We did the test, we've earned our right to survive by following your rules, and you're gonna tell us – what? Go back to the desert?"

"This world may be better off with you dead." The monk answered without turning to face Loor, beginning to walk away with all of the other painted individuals who had been hanging around the strange precursor abomination. "I would prefer your new kind be extinguished in the wasteland than allowed to thrive and multiply. You are a poisonous pair; doomed to spread if not culled."

"Loor." Jak had already turned his back on the situation, ready to move on. He took hold of her shoulder, a warning that it was time to let it go. "C'mon."

"W-what!" Loor was both galled and somewhat embarrassed at the insinuation the monk made. She ignored Jak, shaking him off to take a threatening step forward. Out of the confusion of her senses she'd gone through today, her rage cut through everything and gave her focus. She was ready to abandon her sometimes clumsy tongue and pass this task on to her fists.

The masked man stepped between her and the receding group of monks.

Loor was surprised, stepping back and glaring. "The hell-?"

"You will leave them be." The masked man spoke simply, giving an order that was reinforced by the hand that still rested on the hilt of his sword. "If words disturb you enough to make you want to fight, you can spend that energy elsewhere on something useful."

Loor stared up at the mask; focused on the dark lenses where the man's eyes had to be. She wanted to rip it off of his face, but his point was well made. Spargus was not a place of excess. If there was energy, there was surely something better than petty squabbles to spend it on. Growling, she finally backed off. "Fine..." She slowly turned to return to Jak and Daxter, Dax having retaken his usual spot on Jak's shoulder. Once the trio was back together they moved on, down the cliffs at the edge of the ocean to continue their exploration of Spargus.

Loor glanced back to find the masked man staring after them.

* * *

><p><strong>The Author's Corner<strong>

Takes us a whole chapter to get through two cinematics... the fuck is the world coming to? Oh well. NEW CHAPTER! YAY.

SO, My birthday is coming up pretty soon here. I'm turning 21. Holy shit. MEOW.

-Loor


	24. Opportunity

**I do not own Jak and Daxter, Jak 3, or any related properties. **

**Vacation or War-Endgame  
><strong>**Chapter Twenty Four-Opportunity**

Spargus had turned out to be larger than Loor gave it credit for. She figured a settlement of surviving death row fugitives out in the desert would be hardly large enough to warrant village status, or even town. What she found, on the other hand, was something that could proudly call itself a growing city. The warrior standard was clear from the fact that every citizen was packing enough heat to make the military force of Haven look conservative, but as she, Jak, and Daxter wandered about the place she found that many of the sandstone buildings were homes. There were common places where there were young children running about, obviously born out here and adept to the harsh conditions. She wondered if the tests that she and Jak had endured would be a rite of passage for the younger generation.

It all seemed very strange, primitive with bits of the modern mixed in. Sandstone buildings that occasionally boasted a metal door instead of wooden, wind chimes made of seashells hanging from a building that led up to a powerful windmill. At the moment all she could say was that it was functional and efficient, but it made her wonder as to the origins of some of the more modern-looking materials and devices. There were no factories out here, no centered place of commerce or manufacture. Armor and guns seemed to be found pieces worked together however they would function, making the place a semi-industrial nightmare.

She could only hope that greater understanding would come as she lived out here. The monks, as hostile as they'd been, also seemed more comfortable out in the wastes, like they'd been here longer. They might've known something about the place's history.

"Uh, Loor? You still with us, toots?"

Blinking, Loor realized she'd drifted further into thought than she'd intended. They'd stopped for the moment, the boys looking back at her as she stared out into space. "Oh- Sorry... Was thinking about... stuff."

Coming out of her thoughts meant coming back to her body, along with the ache she was getting used to.

"Surprised your brain hasn't dried up in this heat." Daxter said with a roll of his eyes before gesturing onwards. "Looks like we found the front gate."

Loor looked up to find Daxter was right; they'd come to a point where the buildings along the lane formed a wide corridor to a heavy looking thing that could in the most rough sense be called a door. It looked like sections of scrap metal crudely beaten together to form an armored portal that nothing was getting through unbidden. "That's what the gate-pass if for, huh?" She mused out loud. "We going outside?"

"It's the only place we haven't wandered through yet." Jak pointed out. "Kleiver mentioned something about vehicles as well. If there was a place to keep a garage; between where newbies aren't allowed to be and the outside world is as good a place as any."

Loor nodded, stepping forward to signal that she was ready to move on. "_So_ not looking forward to meeting Kleiver again..."

"Then keep your mouth shut." Jak advised with a smirk, the giant portal letting off a hydraulic hiss as they stepped close enough for their gate pass to be detected. "He only went after you when you spoke up."

"Hey, I ain't _nobody's _happy little helper unless I'm fully informed." She huffed back. "I ask questions; I like to know things. Keeps surprises from popping up later."

"Hey, surprises can be fun!" Daxter hopped in as the giant slabs of riveted metal slid apart with a grind and a hard _thump_, letting the trio pass through the now open space.

"'Cept when they're dangerous." Loor muttered brusquely.

The chamber they entered existed inside the wall between Spargus and the outside world, making an example that the wall was exceptionally thick. Loor had to guess at there being about twenty yards between them and the gate that led out into the wastes, the space spreading about twice that size from side to side. The center lane was left wide open, but parked along the walls were vehicles. They all had four wheels and an engine, bare bones of their frames covered by armor and spikes, but aside from that they all varied in size, the height they rode at, weaponry, and seats. She at once took a deep breath in through her nose; she could smell all the common scents to a garage. Oil, gasoline, grease, warm rubber, and all the rest prodded her towards another memory that hung fuzzily outside her reach.

She didn't need the memory to know something though; she liked these things. Her fingers tingled with the itch to take something, _anything_, apart and put it back together. She wondered if any of these vehicles were in need of an oil change or other routine maintenance close to the ground; unsavory jobs that would be easy to volunteer for in order to start learning things she used to know... and give her access to tools.

Still, among this display of cars was Kleiver, somewhat dampening her glee.

Having passed through the gate, it thudded shut behind them. _Like a prison door._ Loor thought bitterly as Kleiver turned to greet them with a slimy grin on his face. "Well, if it isn't the newbies."

Jak approached the big wastelander. Loor kept her distance, instead veering off to begin checking out one of the larger vehicles in the garage space. It was tall, and she crouched down to get a view of what sandblasting could do the undercarriage... and duck out of obvious view. _Not hiding._ She told herself. _Just... quietly evading something unpleasant. Like taking medicine to avoid a cold._

"Keep yappin, jelly boy!" Daxter taunted. "We'll see who-"

The ottsel was cut off rather suddenly.

"Bit ya bum, rat-face, or I'll pound ya!"

Loor briefly peeked back at her partners over the large wheel of the car she was inspecting to see Daxter getting released from one of Kleiver's meaty hands, still on Jak's shoulder. She wondered if Jak stood so close to the guy to assert physical presence. A sort of 'I don't care I'm smaller than you, I'm not scared of you' statement.

Daxter, still not getting the idea that he may have wanted to shut his trap, waved his hand in front of his nose after his close encounter. "Whoo! Great stink of the precursors! I've got two words for you, buddy!" Daxter pointed back to Kleiver. "Tooth brush!"

Jak, stepping in before his partner ended up without his pelt, gestured to where Loor was now standing and made her regret her placement. "Nice rides."

"You like what you see?" Kleiver let out a proud smile, also looking to Loor, who suddenly felt like a child in the big boys playground. Kleiver was likely the master mechanic, and she was in no great hurry to learn the ropes from him. He didn't seem to be the teaching type. Just violent and condescending. "We use these babies to make runs into the deep desert. Tough wheels for tough work."

"You said we could use one." Jak pointed out.

"I did, didn't I?" Kleiver spoke as if he'd forgotten. "But not one of those; those are for the big boys." He gestured to a height that was near equal to his own; well over Jak's head. "_You_ can use _that_ one."

He turned to point at the other side of the wide space; a small vehicle that was low to the ground with only one seat.

"Hah!" Daxter let off an indignant laugh as Jak trotted over to the indicated car. "What a runt!"

"Seems to fit you." Kleiver pointed out.

"Get in Dax." Jak was grinning at the idea of getting back into something with an engine. "I'll drive."

"Care to wager something on a race, then?" Kleiver feigned inspecting his nails, acting casual while his voice turned every so slightly more dangerous. "You win, I'll let you keep that little vehicle for as long as you live... and if I win?"

Jak shrugged. "I don't have anything."

Loor felt eyes dash in her direction; after all, the new vehicle only had one seat. In response she crossed her arms over her chest, glaring at all parties present. She wanted to threaten them somehow for even looking at her, but as usual her tongue failed her under pressure.

Thankfully, it looked like whatever was going on was of a more playful mindset, and her serious face took her out of the game.

"That yappy rodent of yours is a bit bony," Kleiver posited, "But skinned and buttered, he'd make a nice treat. My vehicle against him!"

"Forget it buddy!" Daxter protested with a similar look on his face that Loor had, assuming it carried the same authority. "Jak would never-!"

"Deal!"

"_Jak!" _

Both Daxter and Loor protested out loud. Dax because it was his hide on the line, Loor because playing with intelligent life as a bet felt wrong to her. Well... in Daxter's in case, theoretically intelligent.

"What?" Jak wore a cocky smile. "If there's anything I can do, it's race!"

"And what am I supposed to do?" Loor asked with her arms still tight over her chest. "Just wait here while you guys go joyriding?" She felt herself growing mildly upset at being left out. Granted she was happy that she hadn't been used as a betting chip, but she still wanted to be in on the action. Racing sounded fun. That and standing around was boring.

"Well, you could always hop a ride with _me, _sheila." Kleiver pointed out, giving her an exaggerated smile from under his dirty mustache.

She sighed, letting her arms drop. "Nevermind, I'll pass." She wasn't _that_ desperate to be part of the action. "I guess I'll just... hang out."

"You'll drive next time." Jak assured as he dropped into the little vehicle he'd wagered Daxter on. "Promise."

Loor stepped out from the large truck-like thing she'd been by, going to the boys for goodbyes and good luck. "Ain't about driving." She sighed as Kleiver moved to saddle up in another car. "It's about breaking up the team. What am I even supposed to do with myself?"

"You never had _that_ problem back in Haven." Daxter sounded surprised and rude. "We were lucky if we could keep track of you; always getting into trouble whenever we left ya alone."

"So, what are ya saying Dax?" Despite herself, she smiled. "Am I supposed to go find some trouble?"

"Or make some." Jak suggested as she leaned on the roll cage of the little dune buggy. "You were pretty good at that."

"Hey, nippers!" Kleiver shouted at the trio. "We going or are we going?!"

"Do your damnedest." Loor found herself laughing as she backed off. "For Dax."

"Don't worry about us!" Jak shouted back, lining up with the door that led out to the desert; a huge portal that was just as rough as the one that went back into the city, just bigger. In a moment both vehicles were running and revving as it began to open. Hardly wide enough to be safe, Jak shot forward and launched out onto the desert sand first.

Kleiver was right behind him, and the door shut again before the sands could blow in.

Loor felt her smile die pretty quickly. At first she considered finding where Kleiver kept the tools and doing something nasty to one of the other vehicles as punishment for making her and Jak separate, but decided she didn't feel right about doing something like that. She'd rather just punch the big wastelander into next Tuesday, but she doubted her ability to do so. He was _big_ guy. She found it unlikely she'd be able to knock him back more than a few feet, much less a few days within the construct of time, assuming sufficient force could do that.

She found herself puzzling what _could_ do that. It was an odd subject to happen upon, yet it didn't feel odd in her head. Had she thought about it before? Often?

She shook her head. Time travel wasn't science, it was fiction. She liked math, not fairly tales.

A moment after that, a bitter laugh left her. For all she knew, she liked both.

Prepared to be bored, she crossed the garage to a thin band of shade that was forming near the wall; noon was passing and she was glad to get out of the sun. Back to the wall, she slid down to sit on the sand, hefting a long sigh. She was sore all over and glad to rest.

A moment later she heard the door to the city clunking open, and threw herself forward to get back on her feet before she was caught unawares. A moment of nervousness went through her head; what if she wasn't supposed to be here without Kleiver around? She and Jak were still newbies, not full citizens. A second later she banished the thought with an aggressive smile; if anyone wanted to give her trouble, she'd give it right back to 'em.

She blinked when Damas strode through the open portal. Against the wall the door was set into, she wasn't in immediate sight to him and wasn't sure she _wanted_ to call attention to herself. Why was he here? A king didn't have time to be wasting, so he had to be looking for Kleiver.

With Damas was Pecker; the colorful monkaw sat rather comfortably on the wastelander's shoulder, head twisting around as Damas's violet eyes stayed locked forward. Saving Loor the trouble of stumbling out of the shadows with only a half-thought-out greeting on her lips, Pecker noticed her first and opened into a smile that was more smug than friendly. "The sun proving too much for you, Loor?"

She realized she was still standing in the growing shadow of the wall, and made a point of stepping out. "Just resting while Jak and Kleiver play games in the sand." She responded as Damas rounded to look at her. His eyes were piercing, but she didn't back down. Instead she lifted her chin, taking a pose of defiance. It wasn't that she disliked Damas, rather the opposite. She wanted him to see her as strong enough to survive. "And what brings the king out here?"

"My adviser has been sharing his knowledge with me about you and your partner." Damas took the lead before Pecker could try to answer for him. His powerful presence quashed out whatever the buzzard might have had to say. "About possibly useful skills you may possess... as well as possible weaknesses that could cripple you."

Loor blinked, realizing things quickly. Pecker would tell everything he knew to Damas for the sake of saving his own feathered butt, and everything he knew may have comprised of things about her past that _she_ wanted to know. The same things _everyone_ was being tight-lipped about. "Really? Can't say I like being ratted out by a bird brain, but you didn't shoot me on sight... couldn't have been all bad."

"Bad enough." Damas snorted. "As I understand it, you're little better than a drooling invalid."

"Pecker!" She felt an urge to land her hand on her pistol, snapping a look to the bird-monkey. "Only my memories were damaged, the rest of my head is fine! And I'm remembering more every day, the more I get exposed to people and... stuff." She then turned her eyes back to Damas, realizing it was _him_ she needed to convince that she was still a viable warrior in her own right. "There was an accident, that's true," She admitted, defensive and speaking quickly, "but my kinetic memory, what my _body_ knows, wasn't damaged. I survived your stupid arena test, didn't I?!"

The staff Damas carried tilted forward in his hand, the heavy end of it coming close to her face as a quiet warning. She paused a moment, harsh breath coming out of her mouth, before composing herself and pulling back slightly.

"The arena is purity." He intoned with deadly seriousness. "Do not disrespect the tests."

"Fine." She spat the word. "I still survived. Jak and I survived. What, you think I only lived because he was with me? I can make it on my own, and I'll redo the darn thing by myself to prove it if I have to."

"No, that won't be necessary." The king seemed mildly entertained now by Loor's eagerness to prove herself. "I have it from a good source that you and Jak are a far greater force together as a team than the sum of that team's parts. _But_ Pecker also tells me that you are stronger in your head than your body. A woman of science, not of war."

"Oh-" She glanced to the colorful creature on Damas's shoulder yet again, but Pecker only shrugged helplessly. He could tell when talking would only land him in trouble. "Well, yeah, I have an interest in the subject... but last I checked that didn't matter out here; all warriors rights and nothing else."

"It may take a warrior to pick up a gun an fight," Damas agreed with a somewhat wry smile still pulling at his hardened face. "But it takes a scientist to build a better gun. We are a culture of fighters, but the importance of the mind is not lost on me. Efficiency; that is the greatest goal in the desert."

He paused, looking at her expectantly. She realized what was being offered here; a different path for her. Pecker had already vouched for her; she could find herself with time, space, and raw materials if only she pounced on this opportunity. A warm feeling of excitement welled up in her, but it didn't last long.

Jak had already described the trouble she'd gotten into before, feeding her interest in technology.

_You had a sister. _

"I'm a warrior first." She answered, keeping her posture. "I don't even remember anything I may have discovered or built in my past, so I don't have much of a foundation for future work. Maybe when I remember more, but for now..." She shook her head. "I'll manage where I am."

Damas took her words with a silent nod of understanding and approval; the fact that she knew her limits seemed to be a mark in her favor. Still, in remembering what Jak had told her, she remembered something else.

"Hey, Bent Beak." Loor adopted Daxter's nickname for Pecker. "Didn't you have a message for me from your old mistress? Daxter was talking about it when we were dumped out here."

Pecker looked to his current master to make sure he wasn't overstepping his current bounds. A perfect coward to advise the king; but the birdbrain seemed to be fat and happy all the same. Another nod from Damas, who now seemed less than interested in the whole exchange, and Pecker turned his oddly expressive eyes back to Loor. "Ah... yes. Onin said to expect an foe with a friend's face... though in my opinion you do not have much ability to tell the difference right now; friend, foe, and stranger are all the same to you."

Loor processed this information carefully; but needed one more answer from Pecker before she knew what to do with it. "This... Onin person. Who is she? Some kind of fortune-teller? Is she usually right?"

"Onin manipulates eco energies to devise things others cannot. Most times this is used to find things far in the past to help guide the future, or note small and missed details, and only _seems_ like fortune-telling... but other times..." He paused, making a face. "This was a vision of hers. It will be true."

* * *

><p><strong>The Author's Corner<strong>

HOLY SHIT I'M NOT DEAD.

No excuses, let's just keep the story going.

MEOW.

-Loor


	25. Parallel

**I DON'T OWN JAK AND DAXTER. **

**Vacation or War-Endgame  
><strong>**Chapter Twenty Five-Parallel**

Jak's return to Spargus was a triumphant one; he and Daxter had beaten Kleiver in his race challenge and won the vehicle as their prize. Rolling back through the heavy gate the two were whooping, pulling into a skidding stop that left the vehicle facing broad-side towards Damas, Pecker, and Loor in a somewhat showy way, only feet short of hitting them.

Damas looked entertained with the trouble twins as Jak pushed up his goggles and tugged down his scarf, sitting up on the roll cage of the vehicle wearing a wide grin. Dispensing with greetings, Damas stepped up with a similar smile. Looking between the two, Loor noticed more than a similarity in quality. Something had her glancing between the graying king and her partner, but Damas spoke before she could think too hard about it.

"Nice wheel work." He complimented. "My adviser here says you have vehicle skills."

Jak shrugged slightly. "I can hold my own. Loor ain't half bad behind the wheel either, assuming she remembers how to drive." He looked to her with a playful and teasing smile; racing put him in a good mood, it seemed. She pouted at him in response, sticking her tongue out at him for making fun of her brain damage while secretly snickering.

"These two will be of use to us, Damas." Pecker chimed in with a slick smile. "I think you should keep them for now."

"Can it, Pecker!" Daxter snapped, throwing up a fist.

"Or at least pick a side..." Loor muttered, still sore about the fact that Pecker had ousted her memory loss to Damas. "Either way," Her eyes turned onto the king, "I assume you have something for us, or else you wouldn't have been waiting around."

Damas nodded. "Something of a profession for wastelanders. There are a number of artifacts to be found in the desert. Fresh storms churn the sands and reveal items that have been buried for centuries."

"Sounds dangerous." Loor noted. "You're saying you people run out there right before a storm kicks into high gear and pick up whatever sifts out of the dunes? Good way to get your bones sand-blasted clean and smooth."

"True enough, but the same items that come to the surface as the sands begin to shift often end up buried by the time it's safe. Part of our livelihood is in finding forgotten precursor items, as well as armor and weapons, whenever the wind sees fit to change the landscape." Damas's full attention began to shift towards Loor and her loud mouth. "A storm is on its way and will hit the city soon. Perhaps you would like to be the one to chance fate and face it?"

Loor knew a challenge when she heard one. Either she or Jak was going to go back out there, but Damas was looking directly at her. She blinked, seeing Jak staring at her out of her peripheral vision. Surprise and tension had appeared on his face, lips parted to try and defend her from what she'd gotten herself into.

_So out of my league..._ Was all she could think to herself at the time, feeling the pressure from both sides.

_**Oh, please...**_ Purred another voice she knew too damn well, a sudden burning hitting her that started in her skull and washed through her body. Lyra was awake. **_Don't you remember how to have fun? _**

"You did promise I'd drive next time, right Jak?" Loor asked with a smirk that had found its way onto her face.

"I did." Jak conceded, though he was slow to move away from the driver's seat. He was staring at Damas; a hard look that said he found the current turn of events unfair.

"Oh, c'mon." She stepped up while giving him a slug to the shoulder. "I'm a big girl. This'll be cake after all the crap I've already been through. Getting my flesh ripped off by sand can't be much worse than taking a tumble out of a moving aircraft, right?"

"...right." His response was reluctant and somewhat sarcastic.

Daxter shook his head, jumping onto Loor's shoulder as she ducked under the roll cage of the vehicle to take the driver's seat, Jak ducking out. "Oh, you two!" He snapped while looking back to Jak. "If it'll make ya feel better, I'll go with her! Looking for shiny objects in the sand, another set of eyes'll be just the thing!"

"Quickly." Damas reminded. "Or the storm will be upon us before you even get out to the sands."

"Hold up." Jak argued, making Loor dizzy in tracking back and forth between the men on either side of her. "Here."

Focusing back on Jak, she found that he was holding out his goggles to her. She blinked, not taking them at first.

"You'll need them; trust me."

"Correct." Damas said as Loor took them, yanking her scarf around her neck while pulling the goggles onto her head. They were damp with sweat, but now was not the time to be grossed out. "Wastelanders know to protect their eyes before the desert rips them out."

"Oh, great!" Dax rolled his eyes as Loor settled down into the driver's seat of the small dune buggy. "Thanks for the pep talk!"

Loor took the wheel quickly and found yet another activity that her body knew without her brain. Her hand found a gear shift at her right side, a clutch under her left food and the gas under her right. Knowing better than to question her muscle memory she cranked the wheel and dropped the hammer, rounding the vehicle to face back into the desert and gun for the doors that were still open to the wasteland.

Only now realizing what she'd gotten herself into, she regretted not thinking her words through earlier.

Now wasn't the time to turn back on the decision though; she slid Jak's goggles over her eyes and yanked her scarf up over her face as she emerged out into the stiff wind and the grains of sand carried with it. The vehicle bounced over the spot where the stone foundation of the wall ended, spooking her into a yelp and squinting through the red lens that tinted her vision.

The wasteland opened up before her; turbulent and hellish in it's view. Sparing only half a thought to keep changing gears, she kept her head up to try and decide where in the world she was going for this hunt she'd been sent on. Visibility was only somewhat compromised thus far, objects in the distance reduced to shadows instead of being lost to the ripping fog. To the left there was a dark mass that she assumed was the coastline that Spargus was built against, the right a rise of sand leading up to a rocky and imposing mountain that created another natural barrier for the desert city that was falling behind her.

In front of her the mountains from the right broke, a gap of several yards left where she could drive through before another peak rose up and descended back into the ocean, making a natural wall of stone. A fortification of rock outside of the wall that had been built around Spargus.

She had to hand it to whoever founded the city; they'd picked their location well. Hitting her last gear and top speed her fingers fastened on the wheel, aiming for the gap between the mountains to venture out.

"Huh, I didn't know you knew how to drive somethin' like this, toots." Daxter commented offhandedly.

She laughed, the sound a nervous titter. "Yeah, me neither! Any idea on what the hell we're doing?!" She found herself shouting; one part was getting her voice over the wind, but the other part was how unsure she was. She'd rushed into this rather recklessly.

Because Lyra had told her to, she knew. She'd dove in because Lyra pushed her. In less than a second the animal had effected her temperament and made her abandon the cautious logic she'd been clinging to since arrival.

"Drive around, grab anything we might be able to see in this crap, turn this tank around and head back to the sand castle!" Daxter's little body was able to produce a surprising amount of volume, but that may have been because he was right next to her ear, clinging to her leather shoulder armor.

"Tank?" She laughed again, a real laugh. "It's a go-cart with oversized wheels and a stick shift!"

Daxter laughed in response, and Loor kept her nose pointed down the total lack of a road. What seemed a short distance turned out to be something of an optical illusion, the rise and break in the mountains much further away than she estimated. All the while she kept her eyes up to try and see the shine of something unearthed by the turn in the weather. By the time that they'd hit the pass she felt as if they were already too far from the city to be able to find their way back when the storm got bad, but she couldn't turn back.

No, she and her stupid mouth had volunteered for this one. She had to come back with _something. _Damas already doubted her. She had to do this right.

"There!"

Daxter was pointing as they began to put the mountains behind them, slightly to the right as a wider expanse of sand became all the eye could see. She followed his finger with several careful gazes, as every time her eyes left the center lane her steering faded off to try and follow to wherever she was looking. At first she saw nothing; the murky and mixed light that the sand and sun created, like yellow fog that was slowly dimming as the sun was blocked out.

Then, through that fog, the glint of something. A bronze shine. Yanking the wheel and throwing the stick into the neutral position, she slowed while trying to gauge exactly where the shine was.

She nearly overshot it, slamming the breaks when she realized they were nearly on top of whatever it was. Daxter dove from her shoulder when the vehicle came to a full stop, yanking an object out of the haze and hopping back in, depositing a hunk of precursor bronze scrap metal onto her lap. "Great!" He said while getting to her shoulder again. "Precursor junk!"

Again, she found herself laughing. Daxter's sarcastic whining made her a little less freaked out. "Hey! Ain't that what we're here for?"

* * *

><p>Jak realized, only after Loor and Daxter left, that he was stuck waiting up for her. Not that he'd <em>planned<em> on going somewhere else, but it was Loor who had the pass for the gate back into the city. At least he knew where Kleiver had driven off to now; he'd probably heard about the incoming storm while they'd been out racing and went out for a head start on the artifact sweep... though he didn't see anyone else rushing to get out there.

Nor did Damas move to leave the garage.

"Waiting to see what she brings back?" Jak asked with nothing else to do.

"Waiting to see _if_ she comes back in one piece." Damas returned with a shrug. "And to collect anything unwanted. You and she will have first rights to whatever she finds."

Jak nodded, pulling a similar shrug that felt weird for the fact that Dax wasn't on his shoulder. He wouldn't bother correcting Damas's 'if; Loor would raise his expectations soon enough. Silence settled in, as it had when Loor left, and laid heavily over two men who weren't prone to unnecessary words.

In that silence, the door to the city clunked open. Eyes turned, but Damas and Pecker disregarded the new arrival.

Jak, on the other hand, turned the rest of the way around and blinked as if he meant to clear his vision. The man who had just entered was tall and tan with platinum blond hair, wearing the mostly intact but very dirty outfit of a Haven civilian. His skin bore the dark markings of a KG, and his armor alluded to similar history; gloves and pads strapped over his thighs being the very same that the KG had and the rest of it supplemented out of scraps and straps.

Jak knew this man. Knew him, suspected him once, and never did quite trust him.

"Ryan." His suspicion remained in his head, trying to sound indifferent. A familiar face out here was better than another stranger, even if the face was one he didn't consider friendly.

He nodded, wearing a smile that had taken shadows since they'd seen each other last. Ryan's most recognizable feature was his puppy-like face; a shining smile and big brown eyes. Those features remained, but they had not gone unmarked by the wasteland. Where Ryan had seemed like a big child in the past, he seemed different now. More grown up. "Jak. It's been a while. Few months, right?"

"Somewhere around there." He agreed. "When... when did you get tossed out? What did you do?"

"You haven't noticed?" Ryan asked, stepping away from the door and up to Jak as the conversation opened up a little. "... on paper my job didn't really exist, but the Council knew someone would eventually connect all the dots, so everyone involved with... well, y'know-"

"My torture." Jak said shortly. "And all the other 'experiments.'" Some of his composure was slipping; Ryan's face was one he remembered from the fortress, and the connection made him remember a boiling rage that was yet to cool.

"Yeah." Ryan stopped outside of swinging range, though he was well aware that Jak was armed and public violence wasn't a crime in Spargus. "We were all tossed out to cover it up. They figured they could just... get rid of us. Granted, most of us got lost out there." Ryan's eyes shifted to the massive door that led out to the wasteland. He'd lost a lot of friends out there. "If you're out here... I can only guess things aren't going well back in Haven."

"No shit."

"Where's Loor?" He asked gently.

"She got tossed out with me." Jak answered. "She and Dax are out there right now, looking for artifacts."

Ryan nodded a little, eyes wandering over to Pecker and Damas for a moment before looking back to Jak. "Wasn't enough for the council to get rid of everyone inside the KG, they had to toss you two out as well to do any sort of real clean-up. I'm surprised, though."

Jak had gone silent, an ugly look on his face. Ryan was trying to be sympathetic, but he just couldn't accept any kindness from this guy.

"I thought Loor was going to go home. Back to where she came from..."

Jak noticed as Ryan's eyes got intense, his stare insisting on Jak's attention.

"Like my sister. They're from the same... _place,_ y'know."

Jak's aqua eyes widened to stare at the tall ex. KG, his brows coming down in brief confusion followed by realization and curiosity. "..._you?_"

"Yeah, me too." He answered with a nod, though he served another careful glance to where Damas was standing. The king didn't seem to be expressing any interest, but Ryan didn't seem to want the sand king to hear much more. "Listen, if you're willing come find me later and we'll talk. I'll be around the beach at sundown."

With that he turned to leave. Jak was still blinking in shock, getting his head around the information that had just been given to him.

Ryan was from Loor's time. Jak would have never guessed; he seemed like a native, but one had to assume the guy was being honest simply from the fact that he knew.

"Yeah, hey-" Jak took a step after Ryan, a hand out as if to stop him. It wasn't necessary, he halted and looked back. "Loor's... she's not going to remember you. She doesn't remember anything."

It was Ryan's turn to express a measure of surprise, but it vanished with a nod that understood they'd have plenty to discuss later. "Right... we'll talk. See ya 'round."

Ryan moved quickly, leaving as Jak had to wonder... had that guy just shown up to talk to him? He'd been in and out without any other obvious reason.

But he was from where Loor was._ When_ Loor was from. That put a whole new spin on how Jak had to think about the guy, and the vibe he got off of him. Thoughts of the fortress still pushed a very raw nerve, but some of the general mystery that made him wary of the man dried up with the new light that had been lit. Loor had been mysterious when she arrived too, and done more than a few things that made him worry if trusting her was the right thing to do, like protecting Errol until it was his proper time to die.

But that was because she knew Errol's time hadn't come yet back then. She'd stood up, ready to take a bullet for the monster, because she'd known how everything was meant to play out. Much of her mystery had come from where she'd been from and what she knew. Now that she was clueless, he was beginning to learn some of the stress she must have had to deal with.

Considering the parallels, Ryan could be afforded a little more trust.

The door to the wasteland opened mere seconds after he had this thought, the wind clawing into the space as if it meant to pull the escaping vehicle back into its jaws. The incoming car wasn't slowed though, bouncing over the threshold and coming to a none-too-graceful stop as the giant doors shut again. Jak approached to verify it was indeed Loor and Daxter who had returned... and that Loor had stalled out the vehicle in the sudden action of stopping while forgetting to shift back into neutral. The girl looked more than a little tense, but otherwise okay. She swore as the car stalled, shoving the goggles up on her head while glancing around and smiling sheepishly at all assembled.

Daxter, on her shoulder, jumped up onto the roll-cage and started shaking sand out of his fur. "Little rough, sweetie." He commented with a grin.

"Shuttup, Dax!" She snarled, losing her smile and glaring. She wasn't in the mood to be teased. "We went, we found stuff, and we're back."

"Regretting your turn at the wheel?" Jak asked, both he and Damas coming closer to see what she brought in.

"No." Turned her gaze on him, keeping her glare while he smirked at him. He saw through the rough expression; she'd been scared on her way back, but she probably had fun too. In a few hours, all she'd remember would be the fun.

"So, what did you find?"

She looked down to a small pile of bronze on her lap. "Mostly scrap metal, it looks like... some doo-dads, broken-looking gadgets... oh, and this." She dug a little to pull up a set of precursor metal bracers. "I don't do heavy armor, but maybe you want 'em?"

Pecker perked up as Jak took the armor in hand. "Nice." Jak said, nodding in approval. Precursor bronze was some of the hardest material on the planet, and any type of armor would have been a good idea. As he worked he glanced at the colorful buzzard, who had wide eyes that stared with incredible interest. "What?"

"Jak, if you please..." The bird waved his wings slightly for the young blond to give him a better look at the armor. "This is..." The bird's shock seemed to grow as Jak complied, shaking his head and buzzing his lips as if to dismiss something before taking a second look and gawking once again. "It is! Loor, you are unfathomably lucky, this is ancient Precursor armor!"

"Well, yeah, the tarnished bronze kinda gives it away." Loor snorted, slowly moving the pile of stuff off of her lap. There was nothing she had interest in; the city could have the rest. "What's the big deal, the fact that it's still all together?"

"The fact that this is _Mar's_ armor!" Pecker squawked. "I can't believe I lived to see it... this is the same armor Mar himself wore, years ago!"

Damas also looked impressed, giving a look to Loor as she finally pulled herself out of the vehicle, leaving her haul of junk trinkets on the seat. "Good work. Wastelander rights is that you keep whatever you want, and the city will put the rest to good use... take good care of your armor, and it will take good care of you."

"You're going to let them keep it?" Pecker's shock turned to his master. "That armor is a priceless piece of history!"

Damas glared at the monkaw, a disapproving frown folding into his face. "That is the right of the finder."

Daxter barked a laugh as the bird shut his trap, Damas turning as Jak finished securing the bracers to his forearms. He smiled at the fit, looking to Loor as she slid off his goggles to hand back to him.

"So." She sighed as Daxter moved to Jak's shoulder once more, Jak working on getting his goggles back in place. "Anything happen while we were gone, or did you and Damas just ignore each other to death?"

"Jak don't know how to have a conversation without me!" Daxter joked, happy to be back on his usual shoulder.

"Actually..." Jak rolled his eyes at his partner as the three of them got to the door to return to the city. "A familiar face showed up while you two were out."

* * *

><p><strong>The Author's Corner<strong>

MEOW.

Moving on. Got some fun stuff coming up, so let's just keep the story moving, right? Right.

Oh, and in case someone starts worrying about how long this thing is gonna get, let me remind you of something.

The first book of VoW was originally 35 chapters of approximately 3000 words each.

After the re-write it finished out at 75 chapters of approximately 3600 words each.

The third book of VoW was originally 45 chapters ranging from 3000 to 4000 words each.

I'm endeavoring to keep the word count per chapter around 3500.

Just saying... this could be a long ride. Expect it to be.

Hope no-one minds. :D

Happy reading!

-Loor


	26. Light and Dark

**I do not own Jak and Daxter. Sorry! **

**Vacation or War-Endgame  
><strong>**Chapter Twenty Six-Light and Dark**

"Great... _another_ name I don't remember."

"You said it was comin' back to you, right Loor?" Daxter tried to cheer Loor up as she huffed over Jak's report about his encounter with Ryan. "And hey, now there's another person we know around. That's good!"

"Yeah, I suppose." She sighed, pushing her scarf back up to her forehead to keep her hair out of her face and sweat out of her eyes. "I'm a little wary of 'old friends' right now though. Pecker finally gave me that message from Onin..."

"Oh yeah?" Jak asked as the three of them moved to take shelter from the sun and heat of the afternoon; it had been a hell of a first day in the city. "Anything important?"

"Expect a foe with a friend's face." She quoted with her fingers, frowning. "As if I didn't have enough to worry about, now I'm gonna be looking at anyone who claims to have known me previously as a possible baddie... I realize that's sorta irrational but if I didn't worry it would kinda defeat the point of a warning... Onin thought it important that I know."

"Yeesh." Daxter shook his head. "That or Pecker is just tryin' to turn you all around. That bird brain has been known to stuff more than a few words into Onin's mouth."

"He seemed pretty damn serious." Loor said with a shrug. "I'll just have to play it safe. Keep aware and all that, try not to go mad with paranoia."

"We'll look out for you too." Jak assured. "We knew pretty much everyone you did, so that warning is sorta for all three of us."

"Then why was it Pecker had to tell me specifically?" She wondered out loud, sighing and shaking her head. "Dammit... too damn hot out here to think properly."

"Well, put your brain on hold." Daxter said while pointing ahead. "We have a paint-faced interception."

Loor sighed, looking ahead to see Daxter was right. In their path, leading a leaper by the reins, was the monk they had seen earlier that day, as well the masked man, her ever-present shadow.

_Oh joy... _

_**The one with the mask should die. **_Lyra hissed. **_I don't like the way he feels... _**

_Feels? _Loor could feel her face getting scrunched up as the three of them went straight for the over-decorated pair. _What the hell are you talking about? _

_**A sense... it's cold. Numbing. I don't let you feel it, it would disturb you. **_

_How kind._ Loor channeled sarcasm into her thoughts. _A little chill would be nice out here. _

"You are still here?" The painted monk spoke harshly, an icy hate in her red eyes.

"Where the hell else would we go?" Loor snarled, coming out of her thoughts as if catapulted back into the real world in a manner that was hardly graceful. "Unless you've got a suggestion better than 'go die,' we're kinda stuck."

"Chill, Loor." Daxter suggested. "He ain't worth it."

Loor gave Dax a look, feeling the urge to correct 'he' with 'she', but the truth was she didn't really know one way or the other. She just thought the monk was a 'she' in her own head. Then, rolling her eyes, she turned her gaze back to the person in question. "Alright, whatever. You don't like us, so let's get to the point. Who are you, what do you want?"

"I am Seem." The monk answered with her name. "We monks are sworn to discover and protect the secrets of the precursors."

"Right." Loor turned her gaze to the masked man. "And _you?" _

"He likes to think he doesn't have a name." Seem spoke before the masked man could, something bitter in the words. "You truly do not need to know, seeing as you will never last out here." She then turned her eyes directly on Jak. "The dark eco crystal from the satellite, I want it before it falls into the wrong hands."

"Too late." Jak snickered at her, smirking at the monk like a smart-ass kid. He was still in a good mood after racing with Kleiver. "Is this how you ask for favors?"

"No, it is how I extend challenges." Seem pulled on the reins of the leaper at her side. "All of my monks are trained riders so leaper mounts can help us travel where others cannot. I'll wager a light crystal against your dark crystal, if you race my monks on their leapers. Win, and they are both yours."

"Word doesn't get around out here, does it?" Daxter grinned.

"Apparently not." Jak chuckled, reaching out and taking the reins. "Show us the starting line, Seem."

Seem turned to the masked man, giving him a nod before turning to lead the trouble twins away. Loor moved to follow, but the masked man stepped in the way.

"What the-?!" She glared up at the man. "We going to do this dance again? I'm not after your mistress, I'm just following my partner."

"Seem only challenged him." He said simply, gesturing a different way. "We will go to the end of the course. We should also talk."

Loor looked to Jak, who was also looking back at her. A second passed and he shrugged at her, moving on with Seem. Sighing, she turned back to the guy. "Only if I get your damn name."

"... Kushik." He answered after a moment's hesitation. "You don't budge on anything, do you?"

"Depends on what it is." She turned to begin walking the way he'd indicated, the road being the one that would lead them out towards the cliffs and ocean. "And excuse me if I don't particularly want to talk to you."

He kept at her side, long strides to catch up followed by shorter ones to match hers. "Oh, I would assume not... it really hates me, doesn't it?"

Loor blinked, skipping a few steps ahead and rounding to stare up at him as a mixture of shock and rage ran through. Lyra's emotions were burning into her; before she'd only been mildly irritated and equally interested. Now she was fully aware and lowering her own safeties in preparation for a possible attack. Loor could feel it; the chill that Lyra spoke of. This man... Kushik he called himself, seemed to carry a cooling cloud. It was like balm to the senses.

Loor, in her own mind, found it pleasing. Soothing. Sadly relaxation is something too easily overtaken by agitation, and Lyra found it abhorrent and most privately... terrifying.

"What the _hell_ are you?!" She snapped at him, her mind spinning between her split perspectives. "How did you-?!"

Kushik held up a hand to her, bowing his head slightly as a signal for calm and silence. "The same way you feel me, I can feel it... eating at your mind and your flesh. Seem is also capable of sensing this, but sees you and your partner as beyond help. Please." He gestured forward again, since she'd forced them to stop when she jumped in front of him.

"Seem is a piece of work." Loor growled, remaining wary. She didn't deny Lyra's presence, glad for the feel of power under her skin. It made her feel dangerous and confident. Either way, she turned and continued down the road. "And so are you. She... the one in me, didn't get this feeling off of Seem, just you."

"Of course." Kushik agreed as if that were an obvious fact, though she didn't see anything obvious about it. "I am... unfortunately unique among the monks. You could see me as an opposite number from you and your partner, but I fear that would be somewhat incorrect as well."

"Opposite...?" She questioned slowly, the road sloping down as they turned slightly and faced out to the ocean on the border of Spargus. The coast was turning red with the coming evening. "I'm not sure I get what you're saying."

"It's not something you need to get." He assured. If she had to guess from his tone, she felt as if he were smiling under that mask. A sad smile, one that had long given up on understanding and recognition. "Either way, I don't mean to interrogate but I did have a few questions for you."

"Questions that required my partner to be otherwise disposed?" She pointed out the fact that he could have spoken her a number of times, the only difference now was that she was alone with him.

"That required _my_ various company to be otherwise disposed." He sighed, mask turning up towards the slowly descending sun. "I live for the service of the monks and the city of Spargus. I don't have many things left that are personal to me, but the things that _are_ personal to me..." He shook his head. "Perhaps I should cut to the chase, but I imagine when I do you will have more questions for me than I will for you."

She huffed slightly as he was talking himself in circles. "Maybe you should plan stuff better before you take someone aside. If you've got something you wanna ask me, then ask."

He went quiet as they approached their final destination; a group of stands near the cliffs along the face of the city that was open to the ocean. The stands, open to the public, were filled with fruit with jugs of fresh water beside. People came and went from this place, helping themselves and walking off with whatever they liked in hand. No one stood by to regulate it, another reminder of the particular atmosphere of cooperation and survival the city carried within it. It would be easy to be greedy, but it seemed like no one cared to. It was a very interesting kind of person that one had to be to live here.

Loor was slowly becoming one of those people. Arriving at these stands she stopped when Kushik did, helping herself to one of the fruits that was familiar to her; it was all the same things that had been given to her and the other novices during training.

"Seem is not far behind us." Kushik said as she chomped away. "I would suggest you keep your hostility to yourself unless you want me to return it in kind."

"And your question?" She pointed out, swallowing and trying to calm herself a little. Her own mind was easy enough; it was Lyra's emotions that kept infecting her.

"I am left to myself after dark, and tend to wander near the stairs to the arena." He allowed himself to shrug now. "I will allow you to choose when you want to find me."

She looked at him, feeling one eyebrow raise slightly in an incredulous expression. "Assuming I'll ever _want_ to talk to you." She said while noting that he was right; over his shoulder she could Seem on the approach, walking calmly to join them where the race would end.

"You're a creature of curiosity, Lauren." His tone became smug just before Seem entered ear-shot and the conversation would have to be over. "I just have to wait for a night where you can't sleep, which I imagine is most of them."

She had to blink at him again.

_How did he know my name?! _

_**Slimy thing... **_Lyra took any fear she could scrape up from Loor's mind and used it as fuel. **_Sneaking around in shadows, watching and acting, trying to trip us up._**

_No, no!_ Loor withdrew into her head as Seem joined the group in silence, content to keep the tense atmosphere as it was. _I don't think I've used my real name since... well, since I've woken up. Only Jak uses it when he's talking to me really seriously... what the hell is going on?! _

_**Let me find him in the darkness. Let me kill him. **_

_NO! He knows something, we can't kill him when he might be useful alive- what am I saying?! We can't just kill people because they rub us the wrong way –_

Her thoughts tripped as she realized something.

_You, he rubs YOU the wrong way. Dammit, I'm not some kinda plaything on strings! _

_**And yet, without me you'd never know the feelings you hold so dear. **_Lyra seemed to find Loor's resistance both futile and entertaining. **_You were correct before, it's the two of us. Isn't it more fun when we feel things together? You think faster, speak faster, act more quickly and decisively-_**

_And rashly! _

_**And you don't enjoy it? Loor... little Loor, you wouldn't be thinking of blocking me off again, would you?**_

There was a threat. It burned her. In that moment, she doubted if she had the strength to wrap Lyra up again. The sickness had sapped her in a way that was intangible in the same way Lyra was. Still, she knew the answer before that, as the question was asked.

_You know I won't. I need you. I won't go back to being numb. _

_**Good girl. **_

Lyra spoke as if Loor were some kind of pet; a dog who had preformed according to her mistress's will and earned approval.

The feeling made her sick.

_**Give it time, dearest. When you start to think like me all that's left is the pleasure and the rage, and they're both exhilarating. You'll love it, in time. **_

_I don't want to think like you. We form a whole person because we're so different. I have to fight you. _

The animal laughed in her head, making her want to clutch her ears in a pointless attempt to block out something that was coming from the inside. Either way, she came back to the sun and sand of Spargus with a sour expression and a headache. In moments her ignored surroundings rushed in; a leaper was mere inches from her and she backed up out of shock as she heard Jak and Daxter first whooping in victory before laughing at her reaction and asking if she was alright. Tripping over herself she let out a brief yelp, catching her balance and putting her arms out to make she had it. "Yikes!"

The situation hit her rather quickly; the boys had won the race with the monks, the other contenders speeding into the area and pulling up to a rough stop behind the dynamic duo. Kushik hadn't moved an inch, and Seem had begrudgingly stepped up to present the boys with their prize. The afternoon had worn on some from when she was last aware, leaving her momentarily confused before she pulled her hands in and stood properly, trying not to be too embarrassed.

"Ha!" Daxter taunted the jockeys behind them. "We kicked your scaly tails!" Then, as a leaper nosed closer in the curiosity that Daxter may have been edible, the ottsel flourished out a tiny fist to bop its nose back and warn it off. "Hey, back off, ya filthy animal!"

Seem, looking unimpressed about the whole event, pulled out a crystal similar to the one that Jak had received from the satellite on the beach. The difference was that this one was white with a rainbow-like shine in the light. Loor felt like smirking; maybe Seem would do her research before placing a winner-take-all bet with something so valuable next time.

"_Fine_, hero." Seem huffed while handing the crystal up to them, since Jak hadn't dismounted the leaper. "The crystal is yours."

Jak snatched up the crystal, eying it carefully before shaking it. Loor suddenly felt a lot less silly for tripping on air while coming out of her head.

"The two types, light and dark, when combined form great energies." Seem said with a stern tone. "Be careful with them, and when you die, do be kind enough to give them back."

Jak looked down at the little monk with a frown on his face; Seem was making a point of mucking up his victory buzz. "I don't plan on it. Why are you so obsessed with death?"

"Because of _that!" _Seem snapped, pointing up to the sky. Loor followed suit as the boys looked up, confused and curious. She was beginning to wonder if Seem had a few screws loose.

The object in the sky that Seem indicated was a large star that was bright enough to be visible during the day. Loor had noticed it some time ago; it was like a smaller sun that never moved in the sky, and it had been there since she'd woken without her memories. Jak, on the other hand, seemed to find it interesting and new. She'd take his reaction as the one to trust in this situation.

"The day star approaches, and every day it grows brighter!" Seem's voice had grown deadly serious, foretelling disaster. "This planet's final trial is coming."

"_Right._" Daxter sounded skeptic. "Cause that's all our day was missing; someone predicting the end of the world. Seriously, it ain't like we've never heard _that_ one before."

Seem shook her head, turning to Kushik and making a motion. In seconds they'd turned their backs on the trouble trio and begun walking away.

"Good riddance." Loor muttered, finally feeling Lyra's aggravation come down a few pegs. A glance around showed that the other monks who had participated in the race had also turned and hoofed it, leaving it as just the three of them again. "What now?"

"Jeez, don't even ask us how the race went!" Daxter hopped to Loor's shoulder as Jak dismounted the leaper, leading it out of the main road before coming back and stretching his arms over his head. "What was with the spaz-attack? Were you spaced out?"

"In a way." She said with a shrug, looking to Jak. "Ain't like the dude in the mask was much for conversation."

"You alright?" Jak asked, his tone asking a question only he knew to ask.

"Good as I can be." She sighed while scratching the back of her head. "What now?" She repeated, eager to move on. Standing still only gave her time to think about how shitty her body felt on various levels.

"We're in the right place to meet up with Ryan." Jak said while checking the sky like one would check a watch. "Might as well hang around for the guy..."

Loor sighed, nodding while resisting the urge to groan out her distaste. Instead she grabbed another piece of fruit off of the stand in the area and went to go sit on the cliffs facing the ocean, happy to get off of her feet.

"You sure you alright, sweetie?" Daxter asked as she ripped into the snack; one of the pink citrus fruits with the thick skin. Once she was into it she split it in half to share with Dax; Jak was grabbing his own before joining them. "You looked pretty freaked when we came across the finish line."

"Yeah, Dax." she assured, kicking her feet over the edge. "I space out sometimes, I guess."

"Well, yeah." The ottsel agreed. "But it used to be you only spaced out right before something ugly was gonna happen. It's got a way of making a guy worry, y'know?"

"No ugly stuff!" She put her hand up to attempt added assurance. "Promise!"

* * *

><p><strong>The Author's Corner<strong>

Two chapters? In one day? WHAT THE HELL?!

Well, I am on vacation and stuff is just starting to get fun again. That might be what's happening. Maybe.

MEOW!

-Loor


	27. Regret

**I do not own Jak and Daxter, Jak II, Jak 3, or any related characters. All OCs featured (with the exception of Loor's sister Fury and mentions of Alex) are mine! **

**Vacation or War-Endgame  
><strong>**Chapter Twenty Seven-Regret**

Loor felt a twist of irritation in her brain when Ryan arrived. As she guessed, he was another name and face she couldn't place in the detritus of her broken memories. He approached while a smile that didn't belong in the wasteland spread across his tan face, raising a hand to wave to the trio that lounged on the cliffs facing the ocean.

"Jak! Loor! Dax! I didn't keep you three waiting for long, did I?"

"Long enough for it to get dark and cool off, which is no problem with me!" Daxter was the first to call back to the greeting, Jak and Loor beginning to make the effort to get up off of the sand and stand up again. "Gotta say, you're the last face I'd expect to see out here. Do wastelanders _have_ a powder-puff division?"

"Hardly." Ryan didn't rise at the joke, keeping a smile that was trademark for him. Finally on her feet and looking at that smile, Loor felt her irritation with the man fading some. "How was your first day on the streets? No one was too rough, I hope."

"We're holding up alright." Jak assured.

"Why'd you wanna catch up with us?" Loor asked sharply. "It's not like we'd never cross paths; this place isn't _that_ big."

Ryan's brown eyes turned, gazing at her with curiosity of his own, though more gentle. "Loor..." He muttered at first, a dull plea to her harsh demand for immediate information. "You're really... huh, Jak told me what happened, I figured you'd be..."

"What?" She wouldn't let him trail off, determined to learn what she could before Jak could shut the guy down; as he'd done with everyone who knew anything about her past. "Figured I'd be what?"

"Different!" Ryan laughed, his smile opening into a wider grin. "Oh, sweetie, you're exactly the same. All serious and trying to cover all your bases before you even know what they are; I'd wondered, worried really, that you might've changed."

She blinked at his casual use of endearing words, but she got the feeling that he used the word 'sweetie' the same way she would use the world 'dude.' Either way, his words brought conflicting feelings; relief that she was similar to the person that people seemed to remember her as... but also suspicion. Ryan was a supposedly friendly face.

And Pecker had told her to be wary of friendly faces. As her eyes picked his appearance apart at every moment, noting expression and body language, her brain scrambled to piece together signals she had not yet learned. She searched for tension, for a conflicting glance to the side that would distract from that beaming smile he liked to wear, but she found nothing. He was just a tall, goofy guy who was truly happy his friend had gotten through brain damage with most of her screws still in the right holes.

"As far as I've heard, I'm still me, myself, and I." She finally responded in kind to his smile. "Anyway, what else did you wanna talk to the three of us about?"

"Couple of reasons." Ryan gave a slight shrug. "Curious of what's going on back in Haven, wondering what happened after Kor..." He trailed off; it hadn't been that long ago that everyone in Haven had celebrated victory over that animal and his army. "It sounds like everything is a mess, and if you guys are out here... There's a disaster on its way or it's already happened. Am I right?"

"Haven was invaded." Loor confirmed. "There's been a resurgence of metal heads and the KG has regrouped into a rebel force with a surprising amount of resources. We were thrown out of the city right after the metal heads took out the palace. I..." She glanced to Jak and Daxter. "We don't really know what's going on now, but it didn't look good. Metal heads took the north, and KG forces entered from the east and took industrial. As far as a siege goes, those would be the two areas that would cripple the city the most. No fresh food, no manufacture."

"The port would be the next major target." Jak pointed out. "Ashelin talked about food stores that would last, but fishing is the only place the city would have left to get meat. You don't support an army on bread and dried produce."

Ryan stood in shock, staring at the trio. His mouth gaped open slightly, eyes wide and unblinking. "W-what?" He could hardly mutter the question at first, but asked it again in seconds. "What? But... Jak, you killed Kor. You saved the city. Everything was supposed to be okay!"

There was more than surprise and shock. Dismay laced his voice. Ryan's smile had fallen to leave his mouth open and formless, too much emotion building to show in a curve of his lips. Instead his eyes became the indicator; wide with brows raised, his cheeks raising as his words warbled with the threat of tears.

"Who are you worried for?" Loor asked. "Did you have family in one of those sections?"

"My sister..." Ryan lamented. "She moved north after... no... right before I was thrown out. And Mikey..."

"Sister?" Three voices echoed this. For once, Loor wasn't the only one who didn't know what was going on, though Jak seemed less surprised and more curious than she and Dax were.

Ryan hesitated under the combined gaze; Jak, Daxter, and Loor all staring at him and waiting for him to say something on the subject. Taking a breath to compose himself, he nodded. "Yeah. Older than me. She was... sick. I knew she'd be able to take care of herself though, I wasn't worried about her when I got thrown out, I just... just..." His head shook, almost violently. "Nothing to be done about it." He finally said, more to himself. "She's a smart woman, knowing her she saw the danger signs and moved again. Maybe... maybe she talked to Mikey too, talked him out of the stadium section."

On an unknown reflex, Loor stepped forward to put a hand on Ryan's shoulder. She still held a mild suspicion, but there was something in her that was desperately sympathetic. Before her stood a man, practically a stranger, but the fact that he was broken and lost was clear on his face. She wasn't sure if it was because she could relate, or because it was simply her nature, but he responded to the comforting hand by laying his own palm over hers and nodding a little. His smile didn't return, but he blinked away the possible tears. In a different setting, she imagined, he may have hugged her.

"Who's Mikey?" Daxter asked, seeming to miss the tender nature of the moment.

"When I was a kid, my sister and I got separated." Ryan's voice sounded stronger. His head was back in the right place. "Mikey found me, and his family took me in. We've been close since. He worked as a mechanic; the KG drafted him for vehicle maintenance, but he joined up with the FL as soon as the Baron was gone. Tough little guy, but he's not a fighter. He'd be smart too; he'd run if something happened." He looked past Loor, at Jak. "I... would like to hear more about what happened to you. As much as you're willing to tell."

"Begging for the loose seconds, huh?" Loor spoke dryly. "I assume if we ain't keepin' busy, the sand king expects us back in the novice barracks, resting up for the next day out in hell. Kleiver made it sound like our behavior would be noted along with our arena tests for whether or not we'd be allowed to stay, and just how... _hospitable_ Damas would be to us would also be directly related."

"That's true." Ryan admitted. "Newbies are expected to stay busy and spend all their time looking for odd jobs or training... though if you don't feel like going back to the barracks, I could put you three up."

"_Eh?" _

Another group reaction. Loor got the sense that Ryan wasn't enjoying being the center of attention.

"Yeah, I behaved pretty good so I've already settled into my own place..." He tittered while putting his smile on again. "It's on the other end of the beach and a bit more inland, near the well. It's not much, but I say it's better to spend your nights with friends rather than strangers, right?"

"Friends." Loor carefully tasted that word. Ryan's smile was different than it had been before; forced and nervous.

She didn't trust it.

"Maybe so." Jak agreed with a shrug, looking to Daxter. "I don't mind, do you?"

"You kidding?!" Daxter shook himself a little. "No early-bird wake up call sounds good to me. The monks have _no_ concept of what a good night's sleep is all about."

"That's because you're all about sleeping in." Jak pointed out. "While they're about avoiding the heat of the day."

"Loor?" Ryan turned to her, brown eyes seeming to plead. He knew if she said no, he'd loose all three of them. She got the definite feeling that he wanted to watch them for some reason. Keep them within reach... but she hadn't a clue as to _why. _What was this blondie up to? What did he want? Why come out and ask for this; he had to know how it looked. He wasn't a friend offering help, he was some sort of figure of authority, supervising them, checking for progress and errors.

_Errors. Mistakes. Things gone wrong. _

_Something's wrong? What's wrong? How does he know? He doesn't seem to know anything._

_**Maybe he doesn't. Maybe he's here to remember, not to refine. **_

_A watcher...? No. No. The watcher... _

_**The watcher was a girl.**_

"Loor, babe! Jak, I think we lost her."

"Wha–?!" Loor found herself standing at the center of attention now, all three of the boys looking at her intently as Jak shook her shoulder, trying to bring her back to Earth. "S-sorry! Sorry!"

"That's the second time today." Daxter pointed out. "What's up with you, toots?"

"I..." Her voice drained, unsure of how to explain what was happening to her in present company. Jak would understand, she was sure of that. But Daxter and Ryan were questionable. Daxter had seen the thing in her, the animal. He was aware of it, but he preferred to note it as _part_ of her. Simply an aspect, another side that showed under the right pressure. He didn't understand the split, the duality she was forced to endure... and sometimes enjoy. The pain and odd pleasure that came from her broken mind. But that was okay, he had an image of her that he accepted; an image of both her and Jak, and he was still friends with both of them despite their danger.

Ryan was a total question mark though; she didn't know if he knew, and she didn't want to test it. Fresh out of her mind with a new memory festering in her peripheral, she blinked and realized the only way she'd uncover more about Ryan and whatever was attached to him would be to stay close to him.

Friend or possible friend turned foe... all familiar faces had to be embraced if she were to discover anything.

"I'm sorry, I'm just so worn out." She finally spoke to excuse her lapse in awareness. "Ryan, it's great. Thanks."

Jak was staring at her; he didn't buy it, but he knew not to press until they got a moment alone.

As if that would happen anytime soon.

"Awesome!" The blond man practically gushed, pointing down the way he'd described before. "Let me show you guys the way; you've gotta be tired, right? You can stay at my place, and we'll talk tomorrow."

* * *

><p>Ryan's home was one in a structure of several; a small building split into four simple apartments, carved into the mountain that bordered Spargus on the north western edge. The whole thing was rough at best; stone walls and floor, with a single window without glass facing out into the city from the main room of the abode. Ryan was one story up, offering a view both further into Spargus but also back out to the stunning picture of the ocean by night, a rainbow of stars sprayed across the sky. The main room featured a fireplace and rough metal pots and tools for cooking, as well as a low table and a large and oddly colorful rug. A doorway with a curtain served as a barrier to what Loor had to assume was Ryan's bedroom, and a common latrine had been noted at the base of the building.<p>

Suspicions rising, Loor noted that Ryan seemed just a little too ready for guests. Moments after arrival he busied himself making an evening meal of hearty if not plain soup as the cool of the night took and the fire in the hearth became a welcome thing. Not even seconds after that was done with, he once again rushed to provide two more rugs; similarly colorful but much smaller than the one that already laid out in the main room. Also, thicker; mats.

Not exactly a step up from the cot in the novice quarters, but Loor welcomed the hospitality anyway. Jak wasn't arguing with it either, folding one end of the long run of woven cloth to make something that could at least pretend to be a pillow. Following his lead, she found a mild joy in having something vaguely soft to put her head on.

Fed, given shelter, and allowed to rest her head, Loor expected her body to settle and act like stone. Instead, as Ryan excused himself to his own space beyond the curtain and she removed the various extra straps that kept her effects attached to her body, she felt both drowsy and restless. Desperately tired, but also itching to move.

"Hell of a day, huh?" Daxter spoke as Jak removed his own effects with a methodical pace. He placed things at hand in order of importance; his gun closest, removed from the holster. The ottsel had hopped off for the time being, bunching up the corner of the main rug in the room to make a good place to curl up. "Last night we were like prisoners, now..."

"We're still kinda like prisoners." Loor pointed out. "If you haven't noticed, everyone says we're being watched. On the other hand, I'm ready to say everyone in this city is nuts. Religious crazies going on about the end of the world, people running into flesh-ripping storms for precursor junk, and the whole damn menagerie run by a king who likes to throw the newbies into mortal combat with creatures that I can best describe as Frankenstein'd warriors."

"...Frankenstein?" Daxter asked slowly. "Nevermind, you're one to talk, toots. You don't just got a few screws loose, they've straight up fallen out."

"Yeah, you don't need to remind me. Still..." She sighed. "What's our goal in all this?"

"Goal?" Dax laughed. "Survive, duh! Welcome home, sweets, time to get used to it. Unless you'd _rather_ go back to those saps in Haven."

"Fuck no!" She snapped back. "They booted us, and they deserve whatever they get. I swear though, ten seconds alone with that Veger..."

"Ten?" Jak asked as he finally got down to just his shirt and pants, stretching his hands over his head. "Gimme two. Woulda ripped the fucker in half."

"He's a twig, would be easier to snap than rip." Loor sighed, the conversation reminding her of one, and then many, of the words that had been traded with Lyra on the subject.

"Easy you two." Daxter advised as he nodded with satisfaction at what he'd done with the rug, settling down and smiling. "I'm all for bloody revenge, but no need to obsess, right? Let's just catch a few Z's and see what tomorrow has ta offer."

"Right." Loor knew her irritation was leaking through in her voice. "Sleep."

The very thought made her stomach twist. Daxter didn't take long to pass out once he'd put his head down, the bunched up rug swallowing him as his body wiggled and wormed in a search for comfort. She envied the ottsel; in the silence of the room she was left with no other thoughts.

An empty head led to a focus on her body. A gradual rise in pain, a hot sensation in her guts that made her mouth feel dry as shocks that seemed to run through her stomach brought on a vague sense of nausea.

Daxter snored, content.

"It's getting worse."

Jak stated the obvious in the darkness; a dying fire in the hearth letting off a soft orange glow and creating vivid shadows. He, like her, still sat up on his mat.

"Faster than I thought it would." She admitted. "How long... how long do you think?"

He drew a long breath, letting it out as the fire popped now and then. "I don't know. I always knew this was coming, but I always figured it would be a few years at least... but you're right. It's fast. Fast enough that I can feel it... _him._" He paused. She looked to him; it was rare that Jak addressed his other self directly. He usually liked to ignore the creature.

"It's like he's eating me alive."

Neither of them had to mention how trying to sleep through such a sensation was a futile endeavor.

"What _is_ our goal?" Loor muttered. "What are we supposed to do? I feel like... I don't feel like it could end like this. Something else is starting. Those crystals, those aren't something that pass into a dead man's hands. There has to be _something." _

"There's always _something." _He snickered at her, smiling a little. "Ryan's right. You haven't changed a bit, and you act more like yourself by the hour... Trying to pull things apart, puzzle them together. You don't know how to stop..."

"You don't either." She pointed out with a laugh. "We both walked, y'know. When we first landed; you didn't need to tell me, and I didn't need to tell you. We both just needed to pick a direction; just cause we can't hold still. That's what we're doing now too, isn't it? Moving 'cause we can't hold still?"

He nodded, silence coming as they both allowed the conversation to settle on that agreement.

Her eyes searched him out in the growing darkness; thinking back to what seemed like a week ago but had only been that morning in the earliest hour. The kiss he'd given her; the reminder that they weren't dead yet.

She left her mat, crawling over and sitting on his legs as he looked up at her. She acted upon what felt natural to her; taking his hands and finding the rough texture of his palms pleasing. Work-hardened hands; hands that had seen the world.

"Hey." He greeted her as if she'd just entered the room, and it was appropriate enough as she'd created a new situation for them both to enter. Surprise laced his voice; he hadn't expected such a sudden approach.

"Hey." She returned his greeting in kind, but the expression of her voice was different. Her tone was gentle, and calm. She leaned in, placing her forehead to his while still holding his hands. "You... you loved me, didn't you?"

It was a question she'd already asked once, back in Haven, shortly after she'd woken up into her past-less world. She'd guessed at his connection to her through various cues, and it had left them often awkward about physical contact. He seemed constantly conflicted on what was acceptable; what was friendly and what was forceful, what was okay and what was possibly pushing her into an unfair choice. Back in Haven, she got the sense that he wanted to be affectionate to her.

Of course. She looked no different. Her memories made no mark upon her outside body. He looked at her and saw the woman he'd fallen in love with; nothing different; she'd just woken up one day without anything that made up that connection on her side. Any time he saw her in the right light, it had to rip his heart out. An expression, speaking a particular phrase, anything that may have reminded him of the 'old her' had to drive him crazy.

Back then he hadn't spoken his answer. His expression had been enough for her to understand; the pain over a connection that had vanished in one horrible hospital stay. She'd gone to sleep, likely just as in love with him as he had been with her, only to awake and not know who he was.

Now he spoke.

"Love." He corrected. "Not loved. I love you."

"And I loved you?" She couldn't hesitate on the question for fear of not asking it at all.

"You said so." His response was delivered in kind; spat out for fear that his body might cage it in. "You meant it. I know you meant it, but you were... worried."

"Why? Because we're both dangerous?"

He cracked a smile, chuckling. "No, no... you were worried that you were too... young. Too young to comprehend if what you felt was real or just... hormones going crazy."

"Well, I can understand what I was worried about." She snickered. "Have you seen a mirror lately? You _are_ the type to get the hormones jumping. Still..." She leaned to touch noses with him, eyes raking over his face in the bronze and shadow painting she saw. Her eyes were pleased. "I had a thought when I was sure we were going to die in the desert."

"Oh?" His voice had softened; such a simple sound nearly lost.

"I don't wanna die without knowing what love is like. What it's like to feel that way." She spoke quickly, capping it with a laugh that hid embarrassment. "Kinda... silly to think about... right? I was... so sad when I blacked out. I really thought I was gone that time, gone for good... and I hated the fact that my last thought was something I hadn't gotten to do. An unfinished goal. Dying with regrets..." She scoffed. "I bet everyone has those thoughts. Wanting to die without regrets... it's cliched and stupid, ain't it?"

"No... it sounds like you." He bobbed his head up to return the bump to her nose. "You don't quit 'cause you've got too many goals. You've almost died on me a couple of times, but you keep coming back... always because there was just one last thing you wanted to do, or some promise or responsibility you had to keep in step with. It's nice that for once... _I _was the reason."

"Ain't like that's what saved me." She snorted. "Power of will isn't an actual energy source, Jak. If so, people would never fucking die."

"I'll argue that; you know better."

She blinked; he was right. When Lyra was still locked out; the emotionally numb state she'd been in. She'd been willing to give up her own life. More than willing. She was sick of that existence. She hated it.

She'd been willing to make her mission her excuse for death.

"Science still disagrees with your thinking."

"I forget, you're still a logic engine when you're not freaking the fuck out." He laughed at her, his tone teasing. "Fine, but what do _you_ think of my thinking?"

She felt the smile spread; leaning in to assert herself. He was ready; perhaps he'd expected since she'd settled on his lap. The kiss was not unlike the one he'd stolen in the dark of the morning, but escalation was impossible to avoid. She abandoned his hands as he leaned back on his own mat, resting her forearms on the floor as his hands settled on her sides. He held her as they both enjoyed the affection, a heady sigh shared during the secret seconds they stole.

These kisses were dares against fate. She knew this somehow; what she was doing was somehow wrong, forbidden. There was thrill in it that came with breaking the rules. A thrill that drove her further, drove a thirst for intimacy. In moments she knew something; a fact hit her mind that was impossible to dispute.

She needed him. In all the days she had left on this earth, she found the thought of being without him impossible. It was like a world without air, without water. It wasn't to live; she knew she could very well go on living should something horrible happen to him, but that living would be just like how she'd been without Lyra. Being without him would be numb; there was too much of her tied up into him already.

His hands tightened on her, fingers splaying up her back as she sucked on his lips, a pleased and yet tortured groan coming out of her as each new moment led to a greater demand for attention.

A moment apart was spent on words. He laughed at her, arms sliding around her for a firm hug as he rolled to the side, taking her with for the ride. "You're never quiet... it's always some noise with you..."

"Problem?" She managed, her brain slow to communicate with actual words again.

"It's adorable." He snickered. "But also... unfortunate when we're sharing a room."

She blinked, realizing they weren't alone. Daxter was still there, and Ryan was only beyond a curtain, not a door. How in hell could she have forgotten?

"S-sorry." She muttered. "I can't help it. I... I'm very expressive."

"And appreciative." He wore a devilish grin. "And assuming we live long enough, I'll find out just _how_ appreciative. In the meantime..." He sighed, reluctantly loosening the hug so she could move back to her own mat.

She whined at him, but moved anyway. Despite the torture, she felt quite pleased with herself.

And very, very rebellious. For some reason, she felt like she'd just broken _all_ the rules.

And she _liked _it.

* * *

><p><strong>The Author's Corner<strong>

Who gives a fuck about rules when you're dying, right?

Riiiiight.

Moving on!

-Loor


	28. Sanity

**I do not own Jak and Daxter. Sorry!**

**Vacation or War-Endgame  
><strong>**Chapter Twenty Eight-Sanity**

Unable to sleep naturally, Loor entered her own mind. Getting there was easy for her now; a trance-like state where she forgot about her physical existence to instead become fused to an imaginary body within her head. Her entrance was an easy thing, the signals her senses received changing from that of the outside world to the one she had made on the inside. The room; her mindscape. At first she was on her side, the way she'd been laying on her mat, but rolling to the side she found herself sunk into a pile of pillows and blankets that drew the tension away from her shoulders and welcomed her to lay her head down and relax.

She didn't bother to open her eyes; she knew what surrounded her. Green and violet; rich shades that she found so intrinsic to who she was. These colors were not just shades she liked; they described her.

_**Evening. **_

The purring voice seemed to come from everywhere as she settled into her mental perception; Lyra's own form would take a more exact location soon enough, but for now the animal was yet to let go of the senses of their outside body. She enjoyed them too much; it was the temptation of experiencing the outside world that drove the animal to always want to take over. To want to live.

Sensing Lyra's emotions was also where Loor found her sickness; it was exactly as Jak described it, as if the animal's presence was a caustic cloud that were eating her alive.

_Why are you doing this? _

_**Doing what, dearest? **_The question came in honest curiosity. Did the creature honestly not know what was happening?

_Killing us. _

There was a long pause, and then a laugh. Lyra's bestial giggle that stared out as an omnipresent voice, slowly narrowing down into a single source. She was behind Loor, entering the room they shared while openly laughing at her host. _**What makes you so sure you're dying? What makes you so sure my lifeblood is killing you? **_

The laughter and thoughts overlapped, disorienting Loor as she was reminded that she and Lyra communicated in a way that could basically be described as thinking at each other. She dared not to consider it for too long, sure that trying to puzzle on how her mindscape worked would cause her to deconstruct it. Instead she concentrated on the question. _Don't you feel it, like I feel you? What else could it be?_

_**You, changing.**_ The animal had drawn close, purring as the blankets shifted with her weight settling on them. Hands with long thin fingers settled on Loor's shoulders, the dangerous points of talons resting on her skin. **_My power is making your body twist and change, as it has before. And as your body changes, it becomes a better fit for me. I have no control over the process, love. The fact that we share this frail shell is all that is to blame; your body is becoming a better home for my mind. I doubt it's truly killing you; you just file the unfamiliar as pain and sickness. _**

_I don't doubt it._ Loor shuddered at how hot Lyra's skin felt, as well as how smooth and soft. The animal was a creature of sensations; carrying a cloud of lust that was augmented by the experience she'd had not even moments ago. Of course, Lyra had been watching over her shoulder... just like always. _Even if you're not doing it yourself... we're dying. _

_**Ever think it was just you?**_ Lyra laughed again, hair like strands of silk brushing over Loor's forehead. She was close enough that Loor could feel her breathing; her face couldn't be far from hers, twisted into a gleeful grin. **_That you feel sick because your body is rejecting you, and accepting me? That you're dying, while I grow stronger? Ever consider that, my pet? _**

The thought was one she hadn't considered; she assumed Lyra's influence over her was greater because she couldn't lock the animal out without locking out her own emotional being. At the same time, it made sense. The eco taint was what was killing her; killing her by gnawing on her brain and body. It would only make sense that Lyra felt more comfortable in a body that was becoming increasingly infected with the substance she lived off of. At the same time, the sense it seemed to make brought light to a very big hole in Lyra's theory on things.

_You can't survive without me. This body rejects me, you take control... and what? You'll burn up all the energy, and then-_

_**Oh, I know. We've been there before, don't you remember? **_

Loor's eyes snapped open, staring up at the pale beast above her. Lyra loomed in a cloud of ebony locks, white fangs showing in a terrifying smile. _Then why aren't you even trying to help?! _

_**You'll die first. **_She shrugged. **_What care do I have beyond that? We're dying, that's inevitable. You feel sick, I feel... powerful. Greater than I was before. Your body weakens, while I feel stronger. What can I do with this strength? Toy with you, take what liberty I can with the life we have left. Survival was once my driving force, but now all I care about is winning. If you die first, and I get control until the end of our existence... well then, I would say I won, don't you think? _**

_I could starve you to death. _Loor tried to threaten, but her voice felt feeble. _Starve us both. _

_**To what end, dearest? **_The animal flopped to her side, one hand shifting to fit under Loor's head, talons laced into her hair. Oddly enough, her talons did no harm, though they still held the threat. That hand controlled Loor's head, forcing her to look at Lyra, for the two of them to stare eye-to-eye, though upside-down.

Shifting, Loor realized her robe was open. The clothes she wore in this place had reflected her own psyche upon entry; where her thoughts had been in regards to Jak. The tie was undone, the cloth threatening to slide apart and expose her. She tried to move her arms, to pull it closed in modesty, only to realize something else.

She'd fallen asleep an entered a dream. It was a subtle thing, an awareness that she'd lost control of the experience. She and Lyra were still in the same place, still having the same conversation, but the power had shifted. From the conscious mind to the subconscious; from Loor's domain to Lyra's. The purple light always present in the room seemed to intensify with the heat, and Loor found her arms tied behind her back as well as her legs bound together at the knees. She was trapped, and Lyra's imagination was now creating things with much greater mastery.

_**You don't have to be like this, you know. **_Lyra purred, the shift pleasing the animal. Her emotions swelled in Loor's awareness; not just lust but pleasure; the pleasure of control. Submission was an option that occurred to Loor, but rage drowned it out; she wouldn't allow herself to feel pleasure just because the animal beckoned her to do so. She gritted her teeth against the sensation, attempting to roll away but failing. Lyra's hand was like steel, affixing her head where it was and keeping her body from going elsewhere. **_You and I... do you remember what it was like when we were together? When we were the same? Stop pretending you're not crazy, stop pretending to be sane, and our last days won't have to be a struggle to the death. Do you realize how well I know you? _**

An overwhelming wash ran through her; Loor cried out when it hit her. She couldn't identify it at first, but it left the same sensation as the addiction did; the desperation for more along with the pain that told her that more would be a horrible idea. _Do your worst!_ She forced herself to snarl; the only way to exhaust Lyra was to exhaust her creativity; forcing her to her worst was the fastest way to end the nightmare, and whatever torture the animal had planned.

_**But I can do so much better, don't you see? **_

Loor was sure she was somehow paralyzed; her body was like lead. Lyra had full control of her, and she knew it. She joyed in it, pulling her host's head in for an expression of affection and torture; a ravenous kiss. Loor wanted to scream, but her lungs were frozen like the rest of her person. Lyra's eyes closed, sinking into bliss and trying to drag Loor into the same sense; a euphoric release of pleasure that promised more if the girl would just let go of her sanity.

_NO!_

Lyra probed, pushing for more.

Loor found strength in indignation, and bit her tongue.

* * *

><p>Loor woke up in a mood too terrified and frantic to describe. Escaping her dreams brought her back to reality, sitting up on her mat and glancing around. It was dark in Ryan's apartment, Jak and Daxter asleep exactly where she'd seen them last, the fire burnt down to dimly red coals. It must have been very late, or very early. Either way, it was still dark outside.<p>

Outside. She clung to that. She wanted to get outside. She couldn't stand where she was, what she was doing; holding still when she wanted to run. Before she knew it she was upright, strapped into her boots and pulling on the holsters for her weapons. She yanked her belt on, moving for the door without a second thought. She wanted outside.

Even upon hitting the streets, she saw walls. She was still in the city; a city protected by walls and an ocean and mountains. For some reason this terrorized her, reminded her of something in her nightmare. Being trapped; strapped in and along for whatever ride was coming. Just an animal, tied to a post somewhere.

She couldn't stand it. She wasn't sure what disturbed her more; the sense of the beast or the fears that beast gave her. Either way, she began to walk in hopes of burning off the energy. Her nightmare lived in vivid memory, but parts were already dissolving into a more intangible sense; a memory of feelings, not events. Feelings of rage, of spontaneous violence, of control and domination.

Before she knew it she was jogging, but she didn't know where she was going. She was desperate to get somewhere; away from these walls. Away from all the barriers and away from anything that tried to control her. She had to, she _needed_ to. Thoughts went by faster than she could process them, ideas offered and cut off by the next one, making her stutter within her own mind as she tried to make some kind of choice.

She went for the gates; she wanted outside, out of the walls. She'd escape into the wasteland. She'd get to the gates and walk into the garage, and then ignore the cars to approach the doors to the outside on foot.

She'd break into a run when those hulking doors opened. She sprinted into the desert, throwing her whole body into it as her steps sunk into the sand. Each push off of the ground took more effort than regular running, making her stumble and trip sometimes. She didn't care, she had to run. Run until she fell down, rolling and coughing because it was hard to breathe. She gasped, dry air hurting her throat and the sand stinging her skin. She didn't turn to see how far she'd gotten from the city, or care for that matter. She didn't want to look back at the walls; she looked forward.

The desert was wide and open; empty. Sand and mountains, stretching out for eternity. She was alone in this place, gaping for air as her legs ached, kneeling in the sand.

She felt evil. She felt like she wanted to rip something apart, simply for the pleasure of destroying it. Her teeth were gritted as if she were baring fangs, fingers dug into the sand as she let out a scream into the night.

With her scream, some of the energy left her. She wheezed as her head bent towards the ground, screwing her eyes shut. What was she doing? Why was she doing it? These were rational questions she didn't ask when she woke up. She hadn't _been_ rational.

"I'm not crazy." She muttered out loud. Speaking out loud was all she had at that moment; Lyra would wake up to thoughts, argue with her. She didn't want an argument. She wanted to reassure herself. "I'm not an animal. I'm not like her. I won't _become_ her... I _won't!" _

Wind blew through the wasteland, an eerie howl being the only answer she had to her pleading.

"I can't let her win..." She spoke softer now. "I'm not dead yet... which means I don't have to quit! And I don't wanna quit!" She lifted her head, still breathing hard. "Jak and I... we lived this long. There's gotta be something else."

She sat there, as if she expected some kind of answer from God or the universe. The longer she sat in the sand, the more sure she became of her new conviction. There _had_ to be something else. She was determined to find it with what life she had left. Her lost memories didn't matter; she was alive and she had to do something with it.

Having this thought made her get up and turn her gaze back towards the city. She'd run quite a ways, nearly a mile, from the front gate. Without the frantic terror that had been driving her before she doubted her ability to keep up a run for the whole distance back. Still, assuming it was early morning someone might wake up and wonder where she went, and she didn't want to make anyone worry. She resolved herself into a speedy walk, checking the straps for her weapons to make sure she'd put everything in its proper place during her rushed awakening.

As her fingers brushed over her pistol, she felt something. Like a shock to the back of the neck, her personal sense for eco hit her and made her raise her head to look.

The desert greeted her eyes; the sand an ocean of silver and black in the moonlight, a spectacular display of stars sprayed above the mountain peaks. Standing there she focused on the relatively dull feeling that had caused her to lift her head; singling out a direction from such a weak sensation was difficult, like trying to hear someone shouting from a great distance away. Far enough, and it sounded like their voice could have come from anywhere. Still, she turned in a tight circle, probing into the darkness with the desire to know what was setting her off. There were metal heads out in the desert, she knew. Perhaps she was sensing one of them?

No, she usually had to be within a few feet of a metal head to be aware of it. The eco they carried in their blood was spread about into their flesh, dulling the feeling. The area around her was clear; a ten-yard circle of empty space that she could see clearly. Despite making that confirmation, she kept her hand on her pistol.

Something was out there. Something concentrated; carrying enough eco to be sensed at a distance.

Jak was like that.

Back in Haven she only noticed him after spending most of a day away from him; otherwise the sense was what her brain could file as a type of 'white noise'; constant and meaningless, useless to process. But she couldn't deny that whatever she was picking up on, it was similar to the feeling she got off of Jak; a concentrated amount of eco.

Was there some_one_ out there?

"Hello?" Loor quested in the shadows, still unable to see anything upon the sand.

The wind howled again, and the sense vanished. Loor remained pensive for a moment, but sighed and let it go, turning back towards Spargus and resuming her brisk walk.

She kept her hand on her pistol.

* * *

><p>"You're up early."<p>

Loor had to blink several times as the door from the garage into Spargus clunked open, revealing that someone was already up and waiting on her. She wasn't sure what to make of it at first, but the fact of the matter hit her rather quickly; she had the only gate pass of the group.

Jak had woken up and followed her, but not fast enough to catch her before she passed the gate. What she'd just done was irresponsible and reckless, and didn't he want her to know it. He stood nearly in the doorway, his arms crossed over his chest and wearing a thoroughly unimpressed expression.

"Uh... hi." Was all she could say. "Didn't know I'd woken you."

"You slammed the door on your way out."

She didn't remember doing that, but most of her morning was little better than a blur. "Fuck... Listen, I didn't mean to, I just–" She cut herself off, not sure of how to put it or what to say. "Just... I wasn't thinking and... I just had to run."

His look remained hard for a few moments, but he dropped his arms and stepped aside to let her past. "Nightmare?" He asked, casually now.

"I don't know if I could even describe it that way..." She shook her head. "What about you?"

"I'm still in control." His answer was short, but his voice described more than his words did. Strained and stressed; he doubted he'd be staying in control for much longer.

The two of them began walking, back towards Ryan's apartment. Loor felt like she had to say something, but she wasn't sure what _to_ say.

"She wanted me to let go." She muttered. "To stop... stop pretending I wasn't crazy." She looked to him, searching for reassurance. "I'm not... I'm not crazy, am I? I mean, sure, brain damage and all that... but before that, was I...?"

He didn't answer right away, raising her tension. "I'm not sure." He said. "You were always serious, rational and logical. There were times when that would clash with other stuff, but you tried to keep that all to yourself. Maybe you thought you were going crazy because of... y'know, _her?" _

"Lyra?" Loor asked as a simple clarification. He nodded in answer. "Maybe... but I don't want that. Not being in control... I can't stand it. I want things to be consistent, for the same actions to cause the same reactions, but it feels like I'm all over the place. Sometimes I'm logical, sometimes I'm angry... and it's like flipping a coin. Forgetting not being fair to those around me, it's not fair to _me._ I keep getting lost on who's who in here... Am I a short-fused powder-keg? Am I some kind of empirical scientist? A gear head? A side-kick? Screw the coin, it's more like dice."

"You're a lot of things. Everyone is."

"But there's no _regulation. _I keep getting jerked around by my own brain!"

"I'm not an expert." He pointed out, sounding a little peeved that she kept pushing the issue. "I don't know what to tell you, Lauren."

The use of her real name, as always, struck her. Backing off, she nodded while hefting a sigh. "Yeah... and I just decided I wasn't going to worry about this shit... I'm sorry, it doesn't matter. Moving forward, that's what's important." She then let things hang for a moment before giving a short and bitter laugh. "Lauren... that name feels weird. Sounds like it belongs to someone else."

"Maybe that's why it gets your attention." He pointed out with a small smile. "Makes you think about who that person was."

"But I don't even know."

"Maybe not, but even though you don't know, you _do._ Why else would you still react to it?"

"It sounds like a child's name." She answered, her tone deadening. "A name for someone little, clueless... defenseless. Some lost little girl."

"Exactly." He grinned as she looked at him with surprise. "You grew out of it." He assured.

* * *

><p><strong>The Author's Corner<strong>

MEOW.

I miss my special keyboard... ;_; My fingers and wrists hate me sooooo much right now.

BUT let's keep moving, I'm getting EXCITED. :D

ONWARDS!

-Loor


	29. Hunter

**I do not own Jak and Daxter. MEOW.**

**Vacation or War-Endgame  
><strong>**Chapter Twenty Nine-Hunter**

Despite having the whole walk between Ryan's apartment and the front gate to talk about it, neither Loor nor Jak decided to explain her morning episode to Daxter. The ottsel hadn't woken up, sleeping like a rock through the early disturbance and staying that way until the smell of Ryan making breakfast (more plain soup with tough bread) gave him a more meaningful reason to wake up. Ryan had been the fastest to finish and out the door just as quickly, and the trio hadn't taken much longer. The sun was rising, and assuming Kleiver had something for them to do it would surely be another interesting day in the wastes. Stopping only for water at the public well, the group moved on in silence.

Almost.

"Alright, I know this dance a little too well... What's up?" Daxter asked, glaring between his friends. He was sitting on Jak's shoulder, only lazily hanging on to his friend's hair. "You two are being _way_ too quiet."

"People don't have to make noise all the time." Loor pointed out to the ottsel when Jak made no motion to answer. "Mornings are nice because they're quiet; haven't you ever watched a sunrise before? It's beautiful, tranquil... and _silent." _She punctuated her last word with a playful glare, as they all knew that Daxter didn't have the capacity for silence.

"Not to mention _bo-ring!_" Daxter laughed at her glare, scuttling to properly stand on Jak's shoulder. "C'mon Loor, who do you think you're kidding? I know that look on her face."

"What look?" She asked, not aware that she was making a 'look.' She'd just been thinking about that morning, particularly the sense of eco she'd gotten on the way back to the city. She was honestly wondering if she'd actually sensed something or if Lyra had been messing with her head; it wouldn't be the first time the animal made her feel something that wasn't there... though usually such sensory confusion was limited to their arguments on the inside. "I was making a look?"

"Yeah!" Dax tried to imitate, his fuzzy face drawing a concentrated glare to the sand as his brow furrowed and his lips pressed together. "Like that! You make that face whenever you're thinkin' too hard!"

"Not exactly." She shrugged, the lie rolling off of her easily. "Just zoned out. It's early, we're probably going to go through all sorts of new hell today... taking the relaxing moments where I can get them."

"Tch, you two." Daxter looked to his partner, who was also technically an offender. "Why do I even bother? You're both hopeless! All quiet and stuff when ya should be makin' the most of it."

"Gotta keep busy." Jak dismissed his friend's prodding. "Unless you _wanna_ be on Damas's bad side."

"Heck no, but travel time between the three of us _used_ to be fun!"

Loor felt her temper spark at this comment, giving only a brief glance to Daxter before picking up the pace, growling to herself as Jak fell in line for a speedy walk.

_It's not like I **meant** to forget everything. I don't even know **why** my brain got burnt out. This isn't my fault. _

"Hey, hey, what'd I say?" Daxter wouldn't give up, even with tensions rising. "I was just sayin'... Jeez Loor, I was just sayin' you could loosen up a bit."

A heated reply was forming in her head, but the ottsel was right; living in the moment was probably best. There was no point in throwing her brain against mysteries when she didn't even know if they mattered. Taking a deep breath, she let it out and felt her shoulders fall a little, out of her tense posture. Looking back, she forced a smile in hopes that her mood would follow the faces she chose to make. "Sorry Dax... You're right. Still, it's tough. I donno how you keep that grin on all the time."

"I don't like to mope, simple as that. Heck, between the two of you if I got all serious too we'd be one big party of downers, and that's no fun at all! Jakkie-boy here is always quiet, so he's got an excuse, but if you ain't speaking up I know I've gotta poke you and get you to let off some pressure before you explode. It's happened before! You nearly clocked Jak once!"

"Nearly?" She looked to Jak, raising an eyebrow.

"You missed." Jak reported with a small smirk. "Though if you'd actually hit me..." He let off a short laugh. "Let's just say I'm glad I have good reflexes."

"Right." She nodded while reaching into the pouch at her hip. What thinking she had done had brought her to a conclusion; she grabbed the gate pass and tossed it to Jak. "Well think fast."

Jak snatched it out of the air before analyzing what it was, blinking at it before looking at her. "You sure?"

"I don't wanna have a repeat performance of this morning." She said with a shrug and a smile. "You keep in better control than me, so you hang onto it."

"This morning?" Daxter looked between his partners once more. "_Ah! _I knew it, something did happen! Oh, oh, you two run off somewhere?"

"Just me." Loor laughed at the ottsel's enthusiasm. "And seeing as I can be a tad... impulsive, given the right push, I figure giving me the key that lets me out of the city while possibly trapping you two on the other side of the door is... counter productive."

"Dammit, this is _exactly_ what I'm talking about!" Daxter crowed as Jak put the gate pass away, the trio approaching the gate to the garage. "Wasting time being all serious when you could be having _fun. _I mean, c'mon, time and place for everything, right? Right?"

"_Right..."_

Loor and Jak stole a glance at each other. A secret smile was shared; Daxter didn't know about the moments they'd enjoyed the night before, and he didn't catch this exchange either. Granted, it lasted for only a moment, and then the door they were approaching began to clunk open so they could continue on in their early morning search for Kleiver.

As luck would have it, the large wastelander was present. Kleiver stood with a piece of heavy artillery in hand; some kind of large gun at the end of a bigger stick. Whether he'd been doing some maintenance on the piece or simply admiring it in the early light was anyone's guess, but his eyes shifted away from it when the trouble trio entered. "Back for more, eh? Figured you'd be scared off by now, Sheila."

Loor did her best to keep her growl to herself; for some reason she doubted she'd ever earn the necessary amount of respect to get Kleiver to call her by her actual name instead of some creepy-sounding pet name that referred more to her gender than anything. Instead she smiled, a cocky grin hiding her desperation to be taken seriously. "By a little rough riding? Yeah right. We came back looking for more."

"So you're looking for a bit of action?" Kleiver was wearing a smile himself under his ratty mustache. "The scope shows a group of metal heads moving through the desert not too far from here."

"Really?" Loor went from cocky to sarcastic. "Metal heads in the wasteland, not like they had a nest out here or anything. For some reason, I'm assuming you don't go chasing every pack in the sandbox down personally, or there wouldn't be enough people in this city to go around. What makes this group so special?"

"Damas said so, that's what." Kleiver glared, annoyed by Loor's questioning as usual. "I don't like metal heads almost as much as I don't like you! And you've got some proving to do! Intercept those bad boys and give 'em hell. Who knows... you may even get a few toys for your effort."

"Why does it sound like you're leaving out all the dangerous parts?" Daxter demanded before glancing at his partners. "Guys, I'm getting some nasty Juju vibes here... I don't have these whiskers for nothing, ya know!"

"Couple of metal heads in the desert, what could be the problem?" Loor pointed out. "We haven't seen combat since the arena yesterday, it'll be nice to stretch out the kinks."

"Yeah Dax." Jak agreed with a slight smile. "Relax."

"Have you nippers ever seen a wasteland metal head?" Kleiver asked, more menace than concern in his voice.

"No..." Daxter shrunk a little on Jak's shoulder. "Why?"

"Nothin'." Kleiver's smile came back. "Just wondering. Though you're gonna need a little more _oomph_ to take 'em out than what you're packing, and the dust puppy you've been driving might be a bit slow..." Gesturing with a meaty hand, he directed attention to another one of the vehicles in the garage, parked near the door to the city. "Tell ya what, you take that one over there. It's got a couple of full auto guns up top and enough ammo to mow down an army. Come back with 'er in one piece, and I'll let you use it whenever you like."

The vehicle he gestured to was bigger than the little dune buggy that had been won through Jak's race with Kleiver yesterday. Not much higher off of the ground, but longer bodied and with a more complete shell. It was still mostly an open roll cage with some great big sand tires, but the thing that Loor was mostly focused on was the fact that it had two seats. "Sweet." Was all she had to say, making her way over to the vehicle while turning to smile at Jak and Daxter. "So, Jak, it's your turn to drive, ain't it?"

"Hell yes." Jak was also grinning at the new set of wheels.

Kleiver stood back to give them a clear shot to the giant door leading outside. "Go get 'em, heroes."

Again, his voice was seeped in hardly contained smug malice, and the following chuckle was downright evil. Loor's enthusiasm was only briefly dampened; if Kleiver was keeping things from them for his own amusement, then they'd just have to show him up by kicking some serious ass.

Still, they were just going out to kill some metal heads. How hard could it be?

Jak took the driver's seat as Loor slid into the passenger's, mentally kicking herself the moment after that thought occurred to her. Even if she didn't say it out loud, 'How hard could it be?' were classic last words. What was it about this place that brought out the cocky idiot in her?!

Jak took all of two seconds to get the vehicle on and revving, shifting into gear and lining up with the massive gate to the outside. Grinding open, it was only a matter of time before they were faced with the desert; the breeze that had howled at Loor during the pre-dawn was mostly dead, leaving clear air and a yellow sea of sand under the morning sun. Despite this, Loor knew she'd be squinting for most of this trip; she didn't have goggles to protect her eyes this time.

Tension and excitement rose up as the door slowly opened. Then, when the gate looked barely open enough to allow them through, Jak dropped the hammer and shot off, the threshold of the wall launching them and giving the trio a brief and exhilarating moment of air. Jak and Daxter were laughing, and though Loor yelped at first she followed it with a whoop that came with the adrenaline rush. Aside from a strap on the seat, she didn't see and actual belts to strap in with, leaving her to grip the roll cage with one hand and the aforementioned 'oh shit' strap with the other.

Once out and in the sand, Loor's gaze turned to what was inside the car. The pieces inside were simple and rough; metal pieces covered in leather straps to make them more friendly to the touch. The gear shift was little more than a bit of pipe wrapped up in hide, though the gauge panel looked a little more sophisticated. Her interest was taken by two things; one was another stick besides the shift and the E-brake, a handle that looked more easy for her to manipulate than Jak, since it was on her side of the gear shift. It didn't look like it was meant to move much either, the only hint to its function being the fact that there was a red trigger under a curve of protective metal. It didn't take a scientist to guess that was to fire the guns Kleiver had talked about, mounted to the top of the roll cage. The other thing Loor noted was a circular display, placed forward from the shift and slightly raised, that after a few moments of blinking she realized was a map.

"They _do_ have this place gridded!" She had to shout as Jak got up to speed, surprise hitting her while she pointed at the display. It wasn't even in color, a rough elevation map in black and neon green, but it was easy enough to understand. A dot in the center that never appeared to move as the lines corresponding with the landscape shifted; the vehicle had a computer that knew where they were, which meant the people of Spargus had _some_ kind of locational system set up. She assumed it was like the grid in Haven, and used the vernacular. After being so long without any sort of map, it was a relief to have one now.

A further relief when another dot appeared on the screen. Red, not green, to the south west; no doubt whatever 'scope' picked up the metal heads Kleiver had talked about had set up a marker for people to avoid... or chase down, as their case was.

"Hunting made easy, 'eh toots?!" Daxter shouted as Jak only spared a glance to the map before pushing his goggles down over his eyes, turning to follow the red marker. Shit was gonna get serious now; they were turning to one of the gaps in the mountain chain that seemed to form a bowl around Spargus's front gate, heading for the first force of metal heads they'd seen since leaving Haven.

What they saw was not what they expected.

It was a moment that made Loor stiffen; revving up a steep incline to get to the gap between the mountains, and reaching a point that let the trio look out on the world beyond. Already squinting against rushing air, Loor wasn't sure she was seeing what she thought she was seeing at first. Sadly, none of her senses were deluding her. As if to reassure her eyes, the definite sense of eco struck her only seconds after. Her mouth fell open, a stunned silence and a faint wheeze of air being all she could produce.

Some distance, more than a mile, a creature of incredible bulk was on the move. It ran in line with two others; creatures at least thirty feet tall if not taller at the shoulder, tromping on two massive legs with a build similar to the leaper lizards, though lacking in the wing-like front appendages. They had arms, but they were tiny compared to the rest of their bodies; dark brown and ugly, brawny tails whipping back and forth as they ran, great heads lowered to balance themselves. Dominating most of the skull, as if there was any doubt to what these creatures were, was a bright yellow gem-like formation.

These creatures were metal heads.

They were the size of a fucking house, but they were metal heads.

"_HOW ARE WE SUPPOSED TO KILL THOSE?!" _Daxter was the first to outwardly protest the errand they'd been given.

"Lots of fucking bullets, that's how!" Loor snapped back, Daxter's energy pulling her out of her shock. Before Jak even asked her hand was on the grip with the trigger, though she still didn't abandon hanging onto the roll cage with the other, simply checking where her hand was to make sure it was _behind_ where the guns were mounted.

Jak let off a yell that sounded like he was burning off adrenaline; the vehicle dipping down the other side of the dune and beginning the pursuit of the metal heads they were after. Between speed and the surprise of the current situation, Loor found herself doing the same. It was like going down a roller coaster, forcing her head to stay up and focused on their targets despite the weightless feeling she got from the drop. The fact that Jak still kept the vehicle in control was both amazing and a God-send, hitting the bottom of the dune and given a straight run up to their first mark's heels.

Assuming metal heads had anything one could call a heel.

"Open up!" Jak shouted.

Loor didn't hesitate, pulling and holding the trigger down. At once the clatter of bullets drowned out the noise of the air rushing by, slugs burning across the distance and finding their mark; the back of their first target's legs. The creature responded by letting off a scream of pain, and the two in front of it instantly broke off of whatever path they were following to wherever they were going to scatter. The one they were firing upon stumbled a little in the sand, and then suddenly stopped while it's body turned. While its forward momentum caused it to slide, it became a jumbo-sized wall soon enough.

A wall that had teeth, which Jak, Daxter, and Loor were speeding towards. Loor hadn't let up on the gun, bullets peppering the metal head's massive head and the even more massive body behind it, before Jak shifted to neutral and used the E-brake to turn sharply and get the hell out of the way.

The metal head hadn't stopped, it had just pulled U-turn. Getting back into gear and shooting off again, they were just barely out of the path before the creature lurched forward. If they'd been there, they would have been crushed. Thankfully they weren't, and the metal head was trying to gain some ground while they finessed into a U-turn of their own to chase after the thing. Loor's grip on the trigger was yet to ease off, and she doubted it would before this monster went down.

* * *

><p>The wasteland was home to more than metal heads. Other creatures, both mundane and fantastic, called the sands home. Men rejected from the city also carved out a barbaric living, living like half-sane dogs. As expected the harsh landscape, dry whether, and burning sand made it so only the most hearty creatures would survive, but one may have thought the introduction of a new creature impossible.<p>

Granted, she was not just any creature. She was aware. And she was watching. Following her instincts wherever the led her, as they had early that morning, before the sun had been up. She'd followed her senses close to the mountains and the walls, closer than she'd dared before, because of the _sense._ She'd assumed it had been another one of the many, many metal heads that usually attracted her attention, wandering away from its group and making it easy hunting for her. What she'd found had been a woman. A woman whom she knew from memories dimmed by pain. Her name had come to mind in a glance, despite minor changes like the length of her hair and burnt complexion.

Loor had been the woman she'd seen in the sand that morning. And, if she didn't know better, Loor had seemed to sense her in the exact same way. She'd stopped, raised her head, searched and called out in the darkness. What had been a prospective hunt turned into a fearful curiosity. Curiosity was possibly lethal though; a trait useless to a hunter who already knew her range and her usual prey. She, possibly like Loor, had shrugged off the early morning events and gone back to things as she'd known them... or better put, she tried to.

But curiosity; the itch to know. She was sure that she'd been cursed with awareness, not blessed, left conflicted until she was finally driven to seek out the sense again.

Just to be sure, she told herself. To see if it truly was Loor she'd seen in the shadows, though at the time she'd had no doubts. Even then, she had no idea what she'd do with the information. Why chase down something so useless?

The answer was obvious; because she wanted to. There was no better reason than that.

And so remained out of her usual range, finding her way back to where she'd been before as the sun finally rose. She disliked the light, remaining close to shadows should the brightness ever overwhelm her. The mountains had many ledges to duck under, outcroppings that shaded her eyes that preferred the darkness. Climbing the rocks were of no difficulty to her, and she feared nothing that may have hidden within a cave. The greatest predators here were the metal heads, and she'd never had need to fear them.

She always sensed them coming, and knew quite well that they ripped easily when pulled the right way.

It was at this time, ducked into the shadow of a rocky crevice, that she was struck again; the warmth and sparks, the sense she depended on so heavily. She didn't doubt, looking up and listening, and soon enough seeing what she sought.

Loor was out in the desert again, and this time she wasn't alone. Another was with her, along with a small rat-like animal, all riding along in one of the vehicles the more civilized people of the wasteland liked to use. Perhaps she knew their names, but she didn't care. Her attention was focused on Loor. The vehicle was heading the way she'd come from, where she'd passed three metal heads of greater size not too long ago. She'd been briefly distracted by them, but the same curiosity that had driven her here had also lengthened her usual attention span. Now it seemed these metal heads became players once again; Loor was outside the city for a hunt of her own.

A quite successful hunt, she noted. First clumsy, then quite proficient, she was able to watch as all three of the metal heads soaked up shots before finally crashing down into the sand, bleeding out and stimulating her sense more. It gave her a desire to get closer to the action, but even that couldn't force her out into the harsh light.

No, she remained crouched down, watching with oddly intense interest as the third and final metal head crashed to the ground and the vehicle carrying the hunters responsible stopped... and for good reason. There was something down there, a greater source of the sense than the metal heads or even Loor. Something even more concentrated and powerful. It must have been contained before, but the fallen metal head's cargo had been cracked open when it fell, flinging out objects that were nearly impossible to see at such a distance. Still, if Loor could feel _her,_ there was no doubt that she felt _this. _

Envy, jealousy, flashed through her when she realized whatever the prize was, Loor was going to get it.

Awareness was a curse; her curiosity had driven her to witnessing this scene, and now her aversions kept her from reaping any reward.

She _could_ go out into the sun. It wouldn't hurt her much more than peering out into the bright daylight did already; damn her eyes. She could kill them, steal the prize. Metal heads tore easily enough, people were even more frail.

She could.

But was the prize worth such risk? Such curiosity? She'd nearly lost her life already, the last time she was anywhere close to 'civilized' people. Loor was part of dimmer memories, a time before that. She had a right to fear a face she remembered more than one she didn't; those were faces who might've been involved with the pain that muddied her mind.

That fear irritated her. She wanted to be more powerful, powerful enough not to fear anything.

Growling, she settled to watch. A hunter was patient, she reminded herself. All she had to do was wait. Loor had left the city before, alone, in the darkness. Another opportunity like that would have to be taken.

She'd have to kill Loor, and anyone with her. It was safest.

* * *

><p><strong>The Author's Corner<strong>

Aaaaand we have another character without a name. Hey, at least this one is a girl. XD And questionably human.

Has anyone guessed who Loor's friendly foe is yet? Hm, I wonder...

ONWARDS!

Favorites are goodies but reviews are sweeties! To pilfer the pondering of a certain someone on Deviant Art...

-Loor


	30. Maimed Mercy

**No ownage of Jak and Daxter. Just a fangirl with a big imagination. **

**Vacation or War-Endgame  
><strong>**Chapter Thirty-Maimed Mercy**

When the last of the three major metal heads went down, Loor couldn't help but let out a victorious yell. She also had to let go o the roll cage to rub her cramped wrist and hand, but that was besides the point. Jak was grinning too, though as usual he was less vocal. Daxter was just laughing, the three of them each letting off tension in their own way. "Jeez those fuckers soak up a lot of ammunition!" Loor chuckled almost manically, still trying to get her heart rate down. Her fingertips were numb, and not just from the cramping. Her face was having the same problem as her heart had beaten faster and faster. Now everything tingled like one's foot would after falling asleep and regaining circulation.

"At least they're big targets!" Daxter grinned. "You okay, sweets?"

"Getting there." She assured, though that was before something struck her through the numbness. Something that had added to the whole situation was sensing multiple sources of eco; with the growing draw that she was having trouble resisting she felt like an ADHD in a room full of shiny objects. These big metal heads felt a lot like the little ones; there was just a lot more eco spread out through their bulk... but now that the danger was through with and the last one had crashed down into the sand, she felt her attention split. At first there was something that made the hair on her neck stand up, and then another that made her look forward to the metal head they'd just finished off.

The giant had crashed and rolled, sliding in the sand and finally coming to a heavy stop. Now, as the monster breathed its last, something crackled in the air to her. "What the-?!" She snapped out loud, feeling like a leash around her neck was being yanked.

"Something fell off of it." Jak noted, driving to get closer. No one questioned his judgment, despite the fact that the body was still warm. "I thought it was weird that they were running in a line... like a formation. Do you think they might've been... organized?"

Loor had to pull herself back into the conversation, feeling like she had to put physical effort into doing so. Ignoring the sharp sense of eco was something her body simply didn't want to do, but she held onto her mind, almost desperately, to fight it. "Not out of the question... Metal heads attacked Haven, if they have new leadership to do that, there would be organized movement out here too. They split and scattered too when they were attacked, where most animals just bolt."

"Then what fell off?" Daxter asked as they began to slow, nearing the monstrous bulk. In moments they were stopped and out on foot to investigate exactly that.

Two objects lay in the sand, flung by the shock of the fall a good ten feet away from the body. One appeared familiar; a spit of precursor bronze with a gemstone set into it; a dark eco crystal. Jak snatched it up at once, staring at it and then glancing at the metal head that had been carrying it. The second object, some sort of disk with glass tubing all along the surface of it, seemed unimportant at first but quickly became important.

That's because it was a communicator. It came to life only moments after Jak pocketed the new crystal, a distorted 3D image of what seemed to be someone's head flashing to life. It was far from clear, wavering and vanishing for split seconds, only to come back as the device tried to focus it. As far as Loor could see, it was a person.

The voice also identified the image as human, as well as male. _"Metal head commander, report!" _He demanded, his image faced away from the trio who watched with curiosity. _"What's happening?! If you lost that cargo, and you're still alive, I'll kill you myself! I want every dark eco crystal you can find! Time is short! Did you hear me?" _

There was pause in the feed, more distortion as the image turned. Apparently the man could also see what was around the communicator, and his orientation dictated what direction he was viewing. There was a moment of sudden clarity, and more details could be made out; a man with menace carved into what could be made of his face, though it looked... broken, ripped up. Half of his hair was missing. With only seconds to make sense of it, and no true reference, Loor was even more freaked out when her mind reacted to this image.

The reaction was fear and rage. Sudden and irrational.

"_Wait... not you two!" _

Jak's reaction was the same as Loor's, lifting a boot to stomp on the communicator and destroy it, cutting off a scream from the other side of the connection.

"I don't like the sound of your voice!" Jak snapped at the crushed thing, a hard glare revealing as much as his words did; that face had sparked violence in him.

"Ha!" Daxter didn't seem to be catching any of this. "You sure kicked sand in his face!"

"Who was that?!" Loor quested, both of the guys turning to her as she glanced at the broken device. She wished Jak hadn't stomped it, because she wanted to. "I mean... I know I don't _know_ anything, but that face–!"

"You're right." Jak agreed, coming off slightly calmer than her, remastering his emotions after the outburst. "It looked familiar."

"Now you two are getting paranoid." Daxter was doubtful. "C'mon, Big Foot and Lady, let's get back... this desert gives me the creeps!"

"Paranoid?" Loor questioned as they moved back for the vehicle. "I don't have many faces to get mixed up, Dax. If two out of three think a face is one we don't like, I'd say you're out-voted."

"So?" Daxter shrugged. "Sweetie, think about it, if we wanted to find out, how would we? Jakkie-boy says familiar, you say freaky, but I'm drawing a blank. So say it's someone we _do _know, how exactly are you gonna track a dude down when we're not even sure?" The ottsel returned to his usual smile. "Better to move along."

She growled, particularly when Jak didn't have anything to say. Still, Daxter was right. Even if they all agreed the face on the communicator was someone they knew, they didn't have much ability or reason to chase him down.

Also, it seemed like whoever was on there knew them too, and didn't look happy to see them. Beyond that, it could only be assumed that whatever they'd just seen had something to do with the war on Haven, and the current policy was they had no fucks to give.

Or, at least that was the official policy. Sliding back into the vehicle with Jak in the driver's seat, Loor had to wonder if that was right. Even out in the wasteland, the idea of compassion was one she was yet to give up. As angry as she felt with Veger and the various others involved with their banishment, she had trouble blaming the whole city. People did crazy things when they were scared.

_Crazy and stupid._ She thought to herself, the last mental activity she permitted herself before their trip back to the city began, closing her eyes against the air whipping by and doing her best to hold her resolve against the burn she could still feel from the crystal that Jak was now carrying in the pouch on his hip. In combination with the growing heat, she had a lovely headache coming on.

Caught between mental and physical, she almost didn't notice when Daxter went from Jak's shoulder to her lap, and jolting slightly when she did. Cracking her eyes to look, she found the ottsel curling up on her legs like a sleepy cat. A glance to Jak showed that he must have noticed; though his eyes were blocked by his goggles once more his scarf wasn't covering his mouth, leaving a small smile visible.

Hefting a sigh, she tried to mirror the expression and rubbed a hand down Daxter's back. "I donno if I know who that was... but it scared me." She admitted. "I don't like being scared."

"Nothing wrong with that, toots." Daxter assured. "Just can't let it get the better of you."

"I've never been good at this, have I?" She asked after a few moments.

"What makes you say that?" Jak asked as they cleared the rise in the land, the walls of Spargus coming into view. She noticed he didn't deny what she said.

"You two... the way you act, you're used to me freaking out."

"You came from a whole different set of rules, sweets." Daxter kept his cheeriness as he explained. "Every now and then your brain kinda overloads, and we help you reboot, simple as that."

"Sounds like a hell of a burden..."

"At first, yeah, but you wouldn't take no for an answer." Jak actually let out a joking chuckle. "And you learned quick."

She sighed as Jak lost some speed, coming in for the approach to the gate; the behemoth doors opening with their usual tedious speed. Whatever her learning curve had been, she hoped she could keep it up now. They were entering the city and that meant Kleiver was probably about the garage, and she felt even less like talking to him than she usually did. The wastelander was looking up as if he didn't expect to see them back so soon.

Jak pulled in and parked, standing up on the seat to lean on the roll-cage, folding his arms as a rest for the rest of his body to lean on while a grin spread across his face. "Back without a scratch!" He boasted to Kleiver. "Got any other fun ones for us?" He asked in a tone that was nearly to the point of sassing.

Kleiver, currently bent and looking to be doing some work on one of the larger vehicles, let out a dangerous laugh. "You nippers just had your warm-up; your number's up in the arena!"

"Our second test?" Loor asked while ducking out of the vehicle to stand up, holding Daxter in her arms since the ottsel hadn't made any effort to move from her lap; he was practically dead weight. "That came up fast."

"Hope you ain't too worn out." Kleiver teased, jerking his thumb towards the door back into the city. "You've got an escort waiting, and you don't keep people waiting out here if you know what's good for ya."

"Who knew manners would be so important to a band of ruffians in the sand." Loor retorted as Jak ducked under the roll cage and turned to start moving for the door. He didn't question the fact that their next test had come up so suddenly.

"Ya mind your manners when it's within rights for someone to shoot you over it, Sheila."

Loor didn't have anything to follow that, simply grunting while following after Jak before muttering, "Point made..."

"You're worse than Dax." Jak chuckled as the two of them fell in step next to each other, headed for the door.

"Hey!" Daxter finally made an effort to move, still awake and turning in Loor's grasp to get up to her shoulder, making the leap over to Jak's. "I take offense at that; my only job is being the wise-ass, I can't lose that too! I just work better with some than others." Getting back to his usual spot, he looked back to Loor with a smile. "Though it's nice to see you talking more, toots." He said with a reference to earlier that morning, when everything had been a tense silence.

"Yeah, if you say so." She shrugged, still feeling like she'd been rubbed the wrong way by Kleiver when the door to the city opened. As Kleiver said, they had an escort waiting.

The masked man, Kushik, stood in wait on the other side of the door. For once, Seem was nowhere to be seen next to him.

"Welcome back." He greeted, the fact that his face was hidden and his voice without particular inflexion making him seem expressionless. "It is time for your second arena fight to prove your worth for citizenship. Shall we?" He gestured a hand for them to group and walk together.

"What's with the supervision?" Loor quested with more than a little hostility, though she and Jak did fall in line and started walking. "It's not like we have anywhere to run if we didn't wanna go."

"I ensure you are punctual. You may notice that the city is rather empty at the moment; you have an audience waiting." Some emotion came now, a slight smug tone. "That and the simple fact that you're the last group I needed to get today, and I have my own part in the goings-on at the arena. Should you survive today, communications devices shall be among your prizes, and we will expect you to guide yourself to your final test. In that instance, if we have to send someone to find you, they'll kill you." Kushik made a gesture with his hand that had the same effect of shrugging his shoulders. "I don't think I've ever heard of someone actually running from their final test though. Least... not until they're already in the arena."

"Some kinda big ugly for the final go, huh?" Daxter posited. "Plenty of monsters to choose from out here."

Kushik's head shifted slightly, as if he were glancing back to his present company. "Quite."

"The men in the arena." Loor spoke up while trotting a big closer to their accompaniment. "What are they? They _seem_ human, but..." She trailed off, shaking her head and deciding beating around the bush was pointless. "They're saturated with eco, and act like mad dogs. If you wanted monsters, you could have just as easily used metal heads."

"A human face is a harder one to kill." Kushik explained. "And metal heads would have to be hunted and captured. Those in the arena... there are other people in the wasteland, too crazy to live in Spargus. Barbarians who can't accept any authority besides their own. Marauders. They attack us time and again, but there's multiple tribes with little organization. Failed attacks result in us taking prisoners, and prisoners have to be fed... unless they're otherwise disposed first." He then paused, pensive about the other part of Loor's question. "Did you know; dose a corpse with dark eco and it will try to get up and scream? Mindless, like a dozing yakkow, but desperate like a starving predator on its last-chance hunt. So you could say those things were once men... but most of them have been dead at least once. Think of them as dolls."

There was a silence after this information, but Jak was wearing a darkening look. "So Haven weren't the only ones playing around with this idea... experimenting on prisoners to make a better monster."

"At least the prisoners we experiment on are actually guilty of whatever we took them for." Kushik shot back, almost too quickly. It wasn't a defense, simply a justification.

"So my thought wasn't far off when I first saw them." Loor muttered, feeling a little sick. The stitched together and poorly bandaged bodies she'd noticed during their first test; they had been fighting men driven mad either by the eco taint or because they were already dead and the eco was the only thing making them move. Slash them apart, pick them up, stitch them back together, and have recyclable cannon fodder. Part of her found the practice disgusting, but at the same time... fascinating. "I'm betting most of the ones from our last test couldn't be used again."

"Morbid!" Daxter crowed. If he didn't have fur, he would have turned green in the face a while ago. "Can we all just agree dark eco doesn't do _anything_ good and leave it at that? The last thing I need to be thinking about are walking dead people and... _eeeuk, _no thanks!"

"You gotta admit it's interesting." She looked to Daxter, her fascination growing.

"And gross!" Daxter shook his head with a shudder. "Precursor crap and dark eco, two things I will never get near again if I can help it!"

"Sorry Loor, I'm with Dax on this one." Jak's expression was both sickened and disturbed. "I know my way around the different types of eco, but as far as I can see dark eco is the only stuff that's straight up... evil. It's done nothing but twist up life wherever its used. Powering machines is fine, but people...?" He shook his head. "Some things aren't worth being 'interesting.'"

Loor fell silent, looking down and contemplating her feet until they got to the stairs leading up to the arena. Kushik didn't stop, of course, beginning the march up the many steps that would take them to their next trial. Jak was following too, but Loor stopped at the bottom, looking up. "Hey, Mr. Mask!" She called out, staring up as the rest of the group halted to look back at her. "Was I right?"

"About what?" The masked man asked, not arguing with the sudden nickname.

"The ones me and Jak carved up last time; you weren't able to reuse them, were you? Damaged beyond repair, right?"

Kushik hesitated on answering the question, but eventually he nodded. "That is true. There is only so much effort we're willing to put into it before we let them go and move on to another... fresher body."

"Good." Loor's face resolved into an oddly bitter smile. It wasn't forced, but her brow indicated a difficulty, an obligation, wrapped up into her momentary levity. "That'll be my aim then."

The rest of the group got moving again, she and Jak falling into step with each other again. "What do you mean?" He asked her, finding her smile inappropriate.

"They're abominations." She looked to him. "They're suffering, and they only have to live for as long as they can be... put back together, right? Rip 'em up so bad that they can't be. It's... merciful."

"Loor... that's..." Jak seemed conflicted, and Daxter was keeping his mouth shut; he'd already made his opinion clear.

"It's what seems right to me." She shrugged now, the group mounting the top of the stairs. "You're right. What's been done is cruel and wrong, but I don't think we'll be convincing Damas of that anytime soon... so what else can we do? We play this sick game, and _destroy_ as many as we can."

Neither of the boys had a verbal answer for her, but the moment passed with a grim nod. Entering the U-shaped hallway to the arena, they could already hear the roar of the crowd.

There were others present in the hallway; the same people that Loor had seen leave their tests alive last time. Each of them looked different, of course; clothing that was already turning brown with exposure to the elements without hope of a wash, bits of improvised armor strapped on with leftover bits of leather. All together a ragged bunch, but the air of this group was different than their first test. Fear had been the tension in the air that time around, and the doors had been locked behind them to keep them from running. Now the doors were left open, and determination was the body language shared among all the initiates.

And, as it was then, Kushik spoke a name and led the person attached through the door into the arena itself, leaving the others to wait in silence.

* * *

><p><strong>The Author's Corner<strong>

Another chapter done! WEEEEEE!

The dark truth about the men in the arena; muhuhahahaa... but, does it matter? Oh, I assure you, it does... :D

MEOW

-Loor


	31. Playing War

**Don't own Jak. Sorry. **

**Vacation or War-Endgame  
><strong>**Chapter Thirty One-Playing War**

With how few people survived the first round of trails, the wait for their turn was considerably shorter, as well as less anxious. Loor felt like she had things in better control, for the moment. She wasn't pacing, just leaning on the wall and waiting for what was coming. None of the others spoke to each other, making the silence oppressive. As much as she wanted to talk with Jak about what was coming, it felt like it would be disrespectful to the others... seeing as all of them were working alone.

She wondered why she and Jak had been allowed to stick together. Damas had made mention that someone had told him that they were better off as a team rather than separate. She was thankful for the recommendation, but she had to wonder who had made it... and to what end. No one seemed to do anything out here unless they had something to gain.

_**Oh... I remember this place... are we here to play again? **_

Loor held back a shudder; Lyra sounded too damn happy, and the animal's voice alone brought back disturbing memories of her night terrors. Still, she did her best to keep those emotions out of the animal's reach, focusing her thoughts on communication before the animal read too far into everything else she could perceive.

_Surprised I didn't hear from you earlier. Figured Kushik would set you off. _

_**Tch, if he hadn't been bringing such lovely news, I would have said something. Still... he knows I'm here. Knows without seeing me. **_A growl hung, along with the feeling of being cornered. Lyra felt threatened by the masked man and the strange aura he carried about. Even if Loor hadn't been able to feel it this time, Lyra keeping the sensation to herself, she knew that her animal was disturbed by it. **_It's like he can see through you, see where you carry me... _**

_What's it matter? I'm your shield; it's not like he can hurt you without hurting me... and he hasn't been hostile yet. Least, not without being provoked. _

_**You... you're thinking of going to speak with him! **_Lyra's voice rose to a yowl. **_You actually want to hear what he has to ask you! What will giving information do for us? _**

_I want to know his story. _Loor admitted. Whoever the masked man was, she wanted to know what he was about. For now he'd been little more than Seem's loyal shadow and in clear service to the city, and he knew who she was. He'd called her by her true name. The fact that he knew about Lyra was disturbing enough, but the fact that he knew about _her_ drove her insane. She needed to know more; either to decide if he was a force to fear or a possible friend.

_**At least if he does something stupid I will have a reason to kill him. **_

_He knows about you. Do you really think he'll do something dumb when he knows you're waiting for a chance? _

"Loor."

Jak's voice broke her out of her mind, looking up with a short gasp. Dimly she realized that they were once again the last group for the day; the door had just shut behind the last of the other initiates entering the arena, and she was left alone with Jak and Daxter. She also noted that she hadn't seen anyone come out alive thus far, but she had been zoned out. Perhaps someone had been brought through while she'd been conversing with Lyra. "Oh... damn... nearly time, huh?"

"Yeah." Jak agreed with a short nod. "How do we wanna do this?"

She blinked, not sure what point talking strategy would do. They knew how to work together; Loor even had her regular weapons, so she expected to fall into her usual groove. Jak's arsenal was limited but he could work with it, she was sure. "What do you mean?" She asked, cocking her head slightly.

"I don't want to have a repeat of last time." He said, making his point clear; she remembered now. Last time they'd both transformed, at the same time. It had come out okay but a repeat performance was not wanted nor suggested. Dark and Lyra were both dangerous, particularly to each other if they were given half a chance.

"_Oh." _She frowned slightly, not sure how to handle the question. In the heat of battle, and with all the eco that was sure to be floating around... she wasn't sure if she _could _hold back. Controlling Lyra was something she knew better than to even try, and the beast was already eager for what was coming. Still... if she had to... "How are you doing? I mean... are you alright?"

"I can handle myself." He assured, reminding her of his greater grip on himself. She could trust his word on that; he knew his limit. "What about you?"

_**Look at that face...**_ Lyra admired the concern expressed, though she had no comprehension of what was being spoken.**_ Such a pity, truly. He's another one I need to kill. _**

"I-I..." She actually stuttered, embarrassed and desperately trying to ignore the unbidden words. "I don't think I'll be able to stop her. She's excited. You should keep your distance."

"Feeling dangerous, eh sweetheart?" Daxter asked as Jak nodded. "We'll give you your space, no worries. Just don't fall over when you come back down, alright?"

"I stayed standing last time." She pointed out, feeling uncomfortable. The transformations were unnatural enough on their own, but she feared what it was doing her body. It was only yesterday that she'd been twisted so, and now she knew what was coming next was almost inevitable. Twice in two days seemed like too much, like it was accelerating how fast it was all killing her.

_**You've nothing to fear, love.**_ Lyra was laughing, nearly sarcastic. **_What's life without a little madness? _**

A roar sounded from the door; louder than the regular din of the crowd on the other side. Loor's stomach twisted; it was too soon for that to be a cheer of victory for the person who just went in. That was a cheer for blood; the initiate was loosing... or perhaps already dead. She stared, her hand going to her pistol to make sure it was ready to draw. She knew it was loaded, knew she was mostly ready for the combat to come, but despite all of that... fear still survived.

She looked to Jak, sure she wore her worry on her face.

Another swell in the noise made them wince, particularly when it was followed by a lull only moments later.

"Y'know... I realize we don't got any options, but I'm not a big fan of this place." Daxter muttered. "Have I mentioned that?"

"Just now." Loor said as the three of them stared at the door. The quiet that came from the other side of the door had a haunting effect against the general roar they'd been listening to the whole time. "Coulda stayed in Haven, Dax. You're here by choice."

"And I'm regretting it." The ottsel crouched down to cling to Jak's shoulder armor, his tail curling tight to his body.

"If it's any consolation, Haven might already be burned to the ground by now." She pointed out. "Veger might've saved our lives by throwing us out."

"Making this the last civilized place on Earth." Jak noted. "Makes you feel good, huh?"

"I hate you both." Daxter grumped.

Despite everything, Loor managed a snicker. "We love you too, Dax."

Moments later, the door opened. Kushik's mask appeared, and he entered the hallway. "It's time." He said, much in the same way he had last time they'd been here. But, different from last time, he had brought two objects with him. He held them out, one hand to Jak and one hand to Loor, with only the following to say; "A mark of good will from the king."

Jak took what was offered to him quickly; it was another mod for his gun, and he wasn't going to argue with new artillery. Loor, on the other hand, was a little surprised. Kushik held out to her a set of goggles; they were simple and black, with dark green lenses. She had to wonder why these would be given to her now, at a time when they were practically useless, but the meaning of the gesture hit her soon enough.

Damas expected them to survive. He was hopeful for them.

Taking the gift, Loor yanked her red scarf down for it to pool about her neck, folding the tail up and tucking it in. Then she slipped the goggles on, first down over her face so she could push her hair back, and then up to hold the shaggy black mess in place and out of her face. "Someone put in a good word for us?" She asked while doing so.

"You put in a good word for yourself when you work." The masked man answered before turning back to the door, throwing it open.

Just like last time, the roar of the crowd was like an explosion. The arena's clockwork floor was already in place, this time split into four large platforms that would be easy enough to jump between. And, just like last time, great pipes had been lowered from the walls for their opponents to enter from. Kushik led them to the platform that would take them down, only a glance served to the king in transit.

Damas sat upon his throne, Pecker at his side, watching with a hard look that betrayed nothing.

Herded onto the elevator, Kushik backed away as the trio was taken down to the killing ground. Like last time, Loor could sense the eco of their coming foes. This time, she was able to identify the excitement and anticipation as Lyra's, and maintained her own disgust for the whole spectacle. She hoped in maintaining her own thoughts on the situation, she might be able to hold herself back. She and Jak didn't _have_ to rely on their darker selves for this, it was just a good place to let loose. Maybe they could get through without it.

She wanted to get through without it.

With a hard _thud_ the elevator stopped, she and Jak making their hop over to the most accessible of the four platforms. On the ground and able to figure distance better, Loor had to guess each platform was about ten yards square, with perhaps a two-foot gap between each platform. Again, like last time, a hatch opened on the platform that revealed ammunition for their guns that was hastily collected before the event began.

"Get some distance." Jak said while drawing out his gun and switching mods. He had the scattergun ready, for close-quarters combat. "Good luck."

She nodded, snatching up what yellow eco clips she could hang on her belt before freeing her pistol and breaking out into a run for the edge of the platform, hopping over the gap to get to the next one, and then cutting across to get to the one diagonal from where Jak was. Making those jumps, she made a point not to look down. She had a serious issue with machinery that moved on its own that had a possibility of crushing her alive, and tried to take an 'out of sight, out of mind' approach to things.

Out of sight wouldn't fix other things though. Her sense for eco was intensifying; the time was nearly upon them. With all the familiar noises, the hatches at the end of the pipes began to open, signaling that the game was beginning.

Pistol in one hand, she drew her stave out with the other. The rod felt good in her right hand, the pistol in her left, putting her back to the inside corner of the square platform she was standing on to watch the two pipes that lay open and facing her on the opposing edges. The tromping noise of running feet came, sending her anxiety to the peak; now, things were going to happen _now. _

The half-mad warriors were the same as last time, bursting out with screams that only grew louder when she took her shots from afar. Her aim, though far from perfect, was enough to take the edge off as the first wave charged down onto the field. It also, she realized, kept the eco away from her. Maybe she could fight like this; keep her distance.

_**You don't need much, dearest... **_

Loor bit back a yelp; the distraction causing her to miss a charging enemy. In a split second she made the decision to lunge forward and catch the mass of the man on her stave, shifting around him and then pitching her weapon to push him beyond her... and over the edge. She didn't think about the noises that came from below, turning back to the mass of oncoming. There were more of them this time, enough to swamp her. There was no time to count but the force was surprising.

_**No wonder no one came back out. **_

It was only by sheer force of will that Loor remained focused, ducking as a sword was swung for her face and firing quickly while sweeping out with her own melee weapon. _You know better than to talk right now! _

_**You're trying to deny me freedom. Passively, of course, but I still resent it! **_

Nimble fingers released the empty clip from her pistol, a practiced move of flipping the gun upside down and catching the bottom end of the next clip hooked on her belt before tilting the clip up against her hip, slamming it home without needing her other hand allowing her to continue without releasing her other weapon. She thought she could settle into a manageable rhythm, since at the moment she was holding a good-enough distance, but the ground under her feet shook.

With this shaking, a loud buzzer began to sound. She wasn't sure what it meant, but her instinct was to run. Breaking away from the horde of half-crazy men with a turn and a slash, she bolted for the nearest platform and made the jump...

Just as the platform she'd been standing on suddenly lowered into the clockwork below. It broke apart in sections, those sections tipping and dropping those who hadn't been smart enough into the grind of gears and pipes and all other mechanical mayhem below. Loor turned away from the sight quickly, not wanting to see even these half-men being ripped into pieces by an unfeeling machine. _Yeah, well I resent you wanting to kill my partner, so I guess we're square on that! _

_**Pathetic thing! **_Lyra's roar drowned out all the rest of the noise, rocking Loor's awareness even as she desperately kept her head up to search for her next target; all the platforms were identical with two points of egress for the army of eco-tainted rag-men that she was supposed to be proving her skills against. **_He dominated us, I cannot allow him to live after that! _**

_He dominated me! _Loor's shots were flying wide the more distracted she became. Letting off a yell of frustration, she relented and holstered the pistol, taking her stave in hand and charging in to get personal. She knew she'd get dirty; the blood sprayed on her as the sharp blades of her weapon tore through flimsy flesh. Blood laced with eco, that drove through her resolve to stay aware as she fought. _Dark didn't dominate you, he dominated me! _

A pause came, a relief to Loor as she was allowed to concentrate. Dodging back, powering forward, and always fighting the burn on her skin just as hard as she was fighting the battle against these mad things. She needed breathing room, in more ways than one.

The sensation was getting worse; not just the eco on her skin but the craving for it. Heat and pain, pulsing through her as she denied her body what it cried for. It built on her with every drop of blood, every scream that sounded from a fallen foe, every shock of eco that found its way from her extremities to build up in her spine. Tension coiled in her, like winding a spring. Given the right push, she felt as if she would explode.

She realized Lyra's silence for what it was too late; the beast had been gathering herself for a push. It came like a strike of lighting to the back of her neck, surging up into her brain.

As always, she screamed. Like Lyra's mental roar before, it blocked out all other sounds. The crowd, the grinding of the machinery below her, the grunts and yells of the twisted puppets trying to kill her; in a horrible moment it was all gone as she expelled all the air in her lungs because of the sensation on the back of her neck that was stabbing her brain. She'd closed her eyes, and when she finally sucked a new breath in she found the world silent and dark.

She was in the mindscape once more; Lyra was free.

* * *

><p>The trial was, as one may have expected with a seasoned warrior and a monster on the field, a victory. Loor knew that simply for the fact that she woke up again; Lyra hadn't done anything particularly stupid beyond taking over in the first place, leaving her to pant and clench her muscles to prove to her mind that she was back in the driver's seat. She had to look around to reaffirm her location in the arena, all the noise coming back and making her dizzy. She was on a platform that had access to one of the lifts back up and out of the pit, but she didn't move for it yet. She searched for her partner, not seeing him on the other platforms around her.<p>

Rounding, she found him behind her. She knew she was sodden with blood and sweat, but now was not the time to fret about such things. They were still on display for all of Spargus to see, and though their test was a success there was still the fact that they had to face their king after the fact. Jak and Daxter, from across the platform, offered a supportive smile while gesturing towards the elevator.

Loor's feet began moving as her hands brushed over her effects. She still had her pistol, her stave had been sloppily holstered, and her new goggles were still on her head. As far as she cared for it, everything was still in place.

Despite that, she felt like shaking her head furiously. She was in that place again; where she didn't want to directly look at anyone because she wasn't thinking the way she normally did. She still felt charged up and violent, leftover hair-trigger reflexes making her want to jump at every new sound.

She and the boys met at the elevator. Daxter wore a grin. "Survived another one, eh?"

"Yeah." Loor blew a harsh snort out of her nose. "That... wasn't the way I wanted it to go."

"We got through." Jak gave her a nudge towards the lift. "That's what matters."

"Pretty sure that's the longest we've lost you for, sweets." Daxter noted, his tone coming down. "This whole thing was like an endurance trial... Donno about you two, but I'm beat."

"How long...?" Loor started to ask as the platform clunked into motion. "It didn't seem much longer than normal..."

"Don't worry about it." Jak advised, giving a look to his partner that kindly told him to shut up.

Not like Daxter would ever catch it.

Hitting the top, the trio stepped to stand before Damas and Pecker. The king was seated calmly in his throne, but Pecker was a little more surprised than his liege. "I can't believe you three are still alive!" The bird proclaimed.

"Yeah!" Daxter tossed out sarcastically. "What a surprise!"

"Damas and I are _very_ impressed." Pecker went on, ignoring Daxter's disrespectful tone, for once trying to take the high road.

Daxter, on the other hand, was determined to drag the bird-brain down to his level. "Hey, feather butt, who appointed you king?!"

"He did!" Pecker gestured to Damas. "Well, almost." He amended, glancing to Damas to make sure he wasn't crossing a dangerous line. "Kind of a semi-king, you know? You should see our sleeping quarters and his harem of love birds... _oooh, _I never get any sleep _these_ days." The monkaw laughed, looking to Damas once more with a smile that the true king shared. "It is good to be the king, no?"

Daxter stood up a little taller on Jak's shoulder, pointing an accusing finger. "I don't see no crown on that fat feather head!"

"You want a crown?! I'll crown you! Don't make me come down there from this perch!"

"I've got a perch for you birdie, right here..." Daxter leapt forward from Jak's shoulder to the alter where their prizes were waiting for them, raising his hand in a rude gesture that caused any in the crowd close enough to see what was happening to gasp, not to mention the individual it was directed at. "Twirl on it!"

Pecker let out a cry of indignation and rage, leaving his master's side to swoop down towards where Daxter was ready for him. "That's it, it's _go_ time!"

"Bring it on, bird brain!"

"Enough!" Damas snapped just as the animals clashed, standing up out of his regal chair and glaring down at the two. "If I wanted you to fight, I would have commanded it!"

"That's right!" Daxter pushed the bird-monkey away before straightening his fur. "Buzz off, birdie!"

Pecker seemed to pout at first before returning to his place, growling and mumbling on the way.

"Jak, Loor, you do Spargus proud." Damas spoke with passion. "I have confidence I will be offering you a full welcome soon. For now you have proven yourselves reliable enough to be called upon when needed, and for that you gain communications units along with your second battle amulet and a new weapon mod. One more arena win, and you will be true wastelanders!"

* * *

><p><strong>The Author's Corner<strong>

Fingertips are beginning to go numb... I really miss my special keyboard. . Next paycheck, gotta remember that.

Yeah, I messed with the dialog a little. Sorry, but Damas getting all weird and almost mushy in A PUBLIC VENUE just didn't seem right in the game, and I already have an easy excuse for all the 'inaccuracies' so meow.

Now I just gotta make the next scene work.

MEOW.

-Loor


	32. Mystery of a Sister

**I do not own Jak and Daxter... I just type until my fingers wanna fall off. **

**Vacation or War-Endgame  
><strong>**Chapter Thirty Two-Mystery of a Sister**

"Huh, these are a lot like the ones back in Haven." Loor noted while examining the comm. unit she'd gotten. It was nearly exactly what she'd had before, which was good because she was familiar with how it worked. The main differences was it was a little heavier and seemed to be a tad more roughly made, but she didn't care because she had a map again that let her find people if need be. If she and Jak ever had to be doing something on the opposite sides of town they'd be able to find each other again easily. "Makes you wonder."

"Wonder what?" Daxter asked. Like last time, being the last fight of the day, the trouble trio were stuck waiting for the place to empty out before being able to leave.

"How the tech got out here." Loor answered like it was obvious; to her it was. Spargus _seemed_ primitive, but the little hints at more modern set pieces confused her and made her wonder just how some of these things were produced out here. As she continued her scrutinizing of the device in her hand, she felt like she was looking at an older model of what she was used to. "Makes me wonder if Haven ain't dumping it's _actual _trash out here along with death-row fugitives."

"Seems a long way to fly just for a landfill." Jak shrugged, beginning to move as the crowed thinned enough for them to shift into it. He'd already pocketed their second battle amulet, locked in his new gun mod, and tucked away his comm.. "Loor, stop trying to pick things apart for five seconds, would you?"

"I'm just asking questions." She sighed, tucking her own unit away and finding herself reminded of her downright disgusting condition. Her shirt was crusty with dried blood that wasn't hers, and the back was soaked with sweat. She was well aware that she wasn't going to get a bath anytime soon, but she was half tempted to go jump in the ocean just to feel a little less gross. "Ick... I'm a mess."

"Take a look around, sweetie, everyone is."

Unable to stop in the crowd, heads still turned to see Ryan had caught up behind them as they got through the hall to the outside, starting down the arena steps. The tall man beamed at them. "Good to see all three of you still walking. You had me worried."

"Ryan! What's up, powder-puff?" Daxter grinned his own greeting. Both Loor and Jak offered their own smiles, though they weren't as warm as one might expect. They both held their own thoughts and suspicions about Ryan, and neither were in the sunniest of moods.

"Swung by to see if you guys would make it out alive. I barely made it through my second trail; it's all about knowing how to pace yourself, y'know?"

Loor nodded slightly, looking up as they descended towards the streets. Her eyes noted the sun; well past its noon position. She almost couldn't believe how much time they'd spent in the arena, or how much time she'd lost to Lyra. "Yeah... not too great at that."

"You seemed distracted." Ryan pointed out. "Something on your mind?"

"Always." She laughed bitterly. "Always, always, always. I feel like the gears in my head don't know how to stop."

"Poor thing..."

Loor shrugged off Ryan's pity while her eyes continued scanning about. They were nearly to the base of the stairs, and after what she'd just been through she had no intention of searching out any more errands for the day. In that, and in Lyra's current status, she realized it was the perfect time for something. "Hey... uh, I'm actually gonna go wander by myself for a while."

"Eh? Why?" Daxter was the first to ask, but Ryan wasn't far behind with the exact same question in echo.

"Breathing room, unwinding." She shrugged, trying to wear a reassuring smile. "Jak's got my contact info on his unit, so you can find me when you need me. I just... want a little time alone."

"Oh, no!" Daxter protested. "Breaking up the team always means trouble, toots. You think I'm just gonna let you walk off around here, you got another thing coming!"

"Dax, it's fine, really." The group stopped when they hit the bottom of the stairs, the dispersing crowd from the arena thin enough to allow for blocks in the flow without causing trouble. "I'd like some time to myself, and I'm not going to leave the city because Jakkie-boy has the gate pass. Right?"

Jak nodded, but Daxter remained unconvinced of her reasons. "What you up to toots...?"

"Leave her be." Jak advised his partner before looking back to Loor. "We'll meet up later."

"Yeah." She agreed, turning to break away from the group as the boys went into the city. She, on the other hand, remained at the bottom of the arena stairs, watching people go by. She was well aware that she may be stuck waiting for quite some time, but that didn't bother her. She'd just lean on one of the pillars at the base of the stairs, scanning the stream of people that grew ever thinner. Sometimes she got looks from people in the out-flowing crowd; they'd recognize her with a nod or even a smile before moving on. It was nice that she was becoming a little more human in the eyes of the people around here, and she returned all gestures of acknowledgment.

As she expected it was those who managed the arena that were the last to leave. The people who helped to organize the event; some of the young monks she knew for shadowing Kushik when he was dealing with the novices. Oddly enough, she never saw Damas himself make an exit, making her wonder if there was another passage from the arena that led elsewhere. She wouldn't doubt it; she hadn't seen any other way up to his throne in there, a passage behind it wouldn't be unexpected.

Though, with another exit, it made her wonder if her patience at the stairs would be worthwhile. She hadn't seen Seem among the monk-folk, which made her wonder if her target was coming at all.

Her waiting paid off, thankfully. Just when she was thinking of giving up, she sighted him; a dirty and tall figure of blackened leather, masked to hide from the world. The masked man. Kushik. He was literally the last man to leave the arena, descending the stairs slowly with a particular exhaustion in his body language. His mask was directed to the sun, addressing the time of day with momentarily slumped shoulders. In moments he corrected his posture, stretching and putting his chest forward again as he came down the stairs.

Lying in wait until he was nearly at the bottom, Loor stepped out from where she'd been leaning to intercept and greet him. "Kushik." She used his name to address him, or at least the name he'd given to her. She had no idea if it was really his name. "Got a moment?"

"Lauren." He sounded surprised behind his mask, stepping down onto the street and approaching her. "I suppose I do, if you're willing to walk with me."

"Don't call me that." She said while falling in step with him. "It doesn't feel like my name anymore."

"Then it seems we both have identities we would rather not... but you force me to face my name, so I see no reason not to make you face yours."

She felt like growling, but he was right. It was a fair exchange of discomfort. "So..." She sighed as they followed the well-beaten path. She didn't pay much mind to where Kushik was leading, if this went south she was confident that she could take him on anywhere in the city. "You had some questions you wanted to ask me?"

He nodded slightly, though he didn't answer her right away besides that. Instead his hand went to a pocket on his belt, pulling out a comm. device and consulting it before speaking. "Lauren... what happened to your sister?"

Just when she thought her brain had exceeded the amount of shock it could take in a day without going numb, she was jolted by his words. Her mouth came open at first to admit she knew nothing, but she held back on that. Whoever this person was, he knew things about her. She decided that her words would have to be chosen very carefully if she was to make the most of the conversation. "I... what? How did you...?" She still gaped, but it was calculated. She only expressed her shock at his knowledge; there was no need to show her own hand just yet... or her lack of one.

He let off a sigh, mild frustration showing in it. "I knew it... can't get without giving, I suppose. You won't tell me anything until I tell you how I know you two. I knew tonight was going to be unpleasant..."

"How so?" She quested, restraining curiosity.

"You and Chelsea..." He shook his head. "You two are from the end of my old life. Or perhaps the beginning of the new one. Either way, I would prefer to find a lonelier place for this discussion."

_Chelsea._ The name struck her; a single touch rattling a whole spider-web of memories. Like drops of morning dew, images shook free that confused her. A young girl, a mousy face, brown and silver hair, and... a hospital room? The flashes were fast, too fast to decode before they were gone. This girl was her little sister? Desperately she tried to recall the too-fast moments that her mind had touched, nearly forgetting that she was following someone. Her feet moved while she reached for that which she couldn't touch.

_Chelsea._ She thought the name at herself, repeating it as if it would have some sort of effect. _Chelsea. My little sister. _

_Fury. Imoto-chan. I called her these things. _She realized with a sense of warm familiarity. A smile could have taken on her face if her mind hadn't moved on so quickly.

The next realization made the warmth burn her. Familiar comfort changed to a dark shame. _I promised we'd go home. _

_I failed. _

Emotions were things most easily remembered; while words and settings escaped her, Loor's lost memories often came to her in the form of the emotions surrounding them. She felt the things she lost more than she remembered them, and the feelings she got when she thought about Chelsea were very clear and direct.

Heavy sorrow, burning guilt; a horrible burden of a life that was lost.

_It's like Jak said. I didn't protect her. I failed her. _

"Lauren?" Kushik was looking back at her; they'd stopped and slipped into an empty and narrow alley; she'd been blindly following him, but he seemed to know that he'd lost her to her thoughts. He called her back, gently, causing her to blink and regain her outward senses. As he said, the location he'd brought her to was indeed lonely; a cramped lane caught between a couple sandstone buildings, hiding in the shadow of a taller structure. He stood far back in this space, as if he intended to hide.

Perhaps he _was_ hiding.

"Yeah. You okay here?" She asked slowly, looking back behind her and noting the particular desolation of the area. They weren't far from the rocky ceiling that covered the area near the elevator to Damas's throne room, giving the place even greater shadows in the coming twilight. Also, perhaps most importantly, there were no people passing by. If she were to guess, this was not a residential zone.

"I know of few better places to be alone at this time." He answered as she was looking away. "I admit it may be... silly, the way I protect my identity, but it is truly something I am not proud of." There was a pause, and when he spoke next the difference in his voice made Loor snap her head around to look. "I do not want to be recognized for it."

She looked because his voice was clear. There was no muffling; nothing in the way.

When she looked, he had removed his mask.

He was a young man, either at his late teens or early twenties. The skin of his face was rather pale because of the mask he insisted on wearing all the time, but that only put more emphasis on the greatest identifying feature; he had KG tattoos. They were great shadows upon his sun-deprived face, impossible to miss. Without the mask it was easier to see his black hair, pulled back and tightly bound in a leather pouch at the back of his head, but a few stray strands escaping. His eyes, a feature almost as striking as his tattoos, were a bright silver-blue that, despite their incredible brilliance, looked permanently sad.

"My name is Artimus Kushik." He introduced himself, holding his mask in both hands and looking unsure of what to do with it now that it was off. "I was a KG involved in the Dark Warrior Program, and part of the medical corps.; I prepped test subjects for circulation and cared for those who were just coming off of their cycles. Your sister was the reason I was banished from Haven. You and I never formally met, but you were one of the subjects in my scope. Chelsea... told me about you, and I recognized your face when Damas and the others brought you in from the desert. Jak too, of course. I doubt he'd react well to seeing my face."

Loor accepted this information slowly, nodding. "How did Chelsea get you banished?"

"I tried to save her." He answered. "Tried and failed." He sighed, looking down. "Veger had me banished for my betrayal. It's been some months now, and Haven wasn't exactly in the best condition when I left it... but I don't care about that. You survived, Jak survived, and you're both out here... but Chelsea is not." He locked onto Loor with a gaze made more intense by his incredible silver eyes. They were almost more like steel, the faint blue behind the white making his gaze sharp. "What happened to her, Lauren? Where is your sister?"

"I..." Loor, for some reason, felt like she needed to be on defense. Artimus's gaze was downright aggressive. "We both survived prison. We escaped. We joined the underground. And..." She hesitated, her voice catching before she forced herself to say it. "She died. She's gone."

The feeling of guilt still hung on her, and when she spoke it felt as if it were crushing her.

Artimus didn't make it any better. He was stunned at first, silent and staring. In his shock, his mask dropped out of his hands and onto the sandy ground. "No..." He muttered, reaching forward and grabbing Loor by the shoulders. "How? If you escaped, then how...?!"

"I failed her." She muttered, returning to the thoughts swirling around the emotions. "I told her I'd make everything better, but she died anyway. I was responsible for her... If you think about it that way, you could even say I _killed_ her."

When Artimus had been the masked man, his emotions and personality had been equally masked. He had spoken in a deliberate and calm way, making sure nothing ever gave him away. He hadn't just been _wearing_ the mask, he had been _channeling_ it. The mask was not simply a disguise for his face; it had been a disguise for everything he'd been in the past; the identity he'd been running from. Now, in that moment, Loor saw a much more passionate creature; a man with life in his eyes. He had a past, scars and history to go with it. He wasn't the mask, he was the man behind it that he'd been trying to hide.

The creature he'd been so desperate to hide, seeing light for the first time in ages.

He'd been banished for trying to save a little girl to whom the world had been far too unfair. Those ever-sad eyes had seen unfairness, and he had dared to try and correct it.

He'd lost everything for that.

And now, despite the fact that he'd given up part of his own life to try and save another, that other life was now gone. That innocent girl was gone. And held between his palms, clutched in his hands, was Loor; claiming responsibility.

With a cry of rage, he reared back to plow a fist into Loor's face.

Perhaps she could have dodged, or pulled away, but she didn't. She made no motion until she'd already taken the hit and was heading for the ground, her bells ringing. The knock made her cry out, but that was only for the pain she knew would come. Her hands were thrown out to stop her fall, catching herself in the dust and looking up.

Artimus stared at her. His hands were open, as if he intended to snatch something out of the air.

"Met her in prison, huh...?" Loor spat; he'd hit her square in the jaw, and the shock had made her bite the inside of her cheek. She could feel the fact that her face would be swollen for a while, and her spit was purple with blood. "Couldn't have known her too well, Jak told me we weren't there for long... less than a month."

He didn't answer right away, taking a slow step backwards before falling against the wall at the end of the alley. His mouth, like his hands, was open with the intent to act. "I... it doesn't take long to get to know someone, not when you're used to people vanishing quick... She was so small... both of you were, but she..." His eyes screwed shut. "She changed _everything. _It didn't matter that life had already kicked the shit out of her and thrown her into hell, she was still free. She had all these dreams and ideas and..." He drew a deep breath. It shook with restrained and irrational rage. "And she's gone. Just like that."

Loor pushed herself up off of the ground, getting to her feet while picking up the mask. She held it as if she intended to put it on, looking through the dark lenses set into it. Quietly she questioned why she hadn't tried to defend herself when he hit her, or fought back, but she already knew exactly why. _Punishment._ The guilt was still clinging to her mind, making her feel like the lump forming on the side of her face wasn't retribution enough. Indeed, what was a proper punishment for letting a life go to waste?

"You wanted to protect her." She stated it as a fact, one she knew he wouldn't dispute. "But you said she changed things. How?"

His eyes opened again, his face twisted in pain. "I... I'm not sure I want to tell you that. I don't think I want to tell anyone that."

"No details, just give me the ugly bits."

"If she and I hadn't met, all prisoners involved in the Dark Warrior Program, all active test subjects, would be dead."

Loor lowered the mask, looking at him without it in the way. She knew she just said she wouldn't ask for details, but now she felt like she had to. "..._ what?"_

His gaze shifted to directly stare at her, pointing out the same thing she realized, but then lowering to stare at his boots. "You know Veger, I assume?"

"A little too well, yeah." Loor affirmed.

"When you and Chelsea showed up, he gave me orders to sabotage the Dark Warrior Program and make Errol look bad. Actually... that order only came down after _you_ went in and reacted the way you did. Suddenly both you and your sister were slated for DWP, when originally Chelsea was going to be carted off elsewhere entirely for something Veger was working on. Suddenly it was about politics." There was disgust in his voice. "So Veger 'gave' me back to Errol so I'd have access to cause several very convenient failures of the experiments."

He paused, eyes wandering back to her as if he expected her to be judging him. Instead, she only stared, waiting for him to go on while secretly wondering why the name Errol struck a cord in her head.

"It's almost funny... at the time I didn't care. If I did the job I was in line for advancement and being directly recognized by the Baron; life was good. Just one more mission, and I'd be living the cushiest life I could in Haven. It was just my job, and I didn't... I didn't _think_ anything of it. I didn't think about anything. Veger got everything set up nice and quiet, even had me set up as Chelsea's chief prep medic, and everything beyond that was going to be a walk down easy street. Then..." He lifted one of his long left limp hands, making a gesture that made little sense, like he was drawing scribbles in the air. "Well, you could say Chelsea sabotaged the sabotage. Being her doctor meant I spent the most time with her, and I got to know her... and I knew exactly what kind of ugliness she was heading for. No one deserved it, I knew that already... but that time I knew I _couldn't_ let it happen."

"So you gave up everything." Loor surmised. "Let go of what was easy to try and do what was right."

"And got _fucked_ for it." He spat, looking up at the world around him. "Veger probably thinks I'm dead, Seem's done her best to keep him from knowing I still exist. I... The monks discourage violence, but I swear if I'm ever given the chance, if I ever get close enough... he'll wish he was never born. The Baron and Errol too."

"The Baron's already dead." Loor offered. "You haven't kept up with the news from Haven, have you?"

His gaze came back down, noting his mask in her hands and gently taking it back. "Really? Well... can't say it makes me feel better, but thanks."

"You have two reasons to blame me." Loor pointed out. "I'm surprised you haven't tried to literally take my head off."

"I'm assuming you didn't kill her yourself." Artimus got away from the wall to stand back at his full height. "You... you're just like me. You had someone you wanted to protect, and you feel responsible. Your reaction to eco may have been the reason Veger gave the order I rejected, but if things had gone the other way..." He trailed off. "She'd still be dead, and I never would have met her."

"How do you know that?" Loor asked as he moved to put the mask back on.

"Trust me." His chuckle was bitter, once again muffled. "Just trust me."

* * *

><p><strong>The Author's Corner<strong>

ARTIMUS REVEALED!

And this is the place where readers with good memories will be asking a very important question and wonder if the author has lost her marbles.

To which I answer, no, no I haven't.

I promise, I haven't.

(To those who don't remember but wanna refresh themselves, since it has been nearly 300,000 words since then; First book, end of chapter 4/beginning of chapter 5)

MEOW

-Loor


	33. Burnout

**I do not own Jak and Daxter. Sorry! **

**Vacation or War-Endgame  
><strong>**Chapter Thirty Three- Burnout**

"So what happened to Loor?"

Ryan asked Jak this question after the two of them and Daxter returned to his apartment for an evening meal and for Jak to finally tell Ryan everything that happened back in Haven since Kor's defeat. Least, everything to do with the city's affairs. Ryan asked many questions, seeking details about everything from Ashelin taking power to the palace's collapse during the metal head's onslaught. The idea of the resurgence clearly frightened and confused him, but that was their earlier conversation.

Now, as Daxter curled by the fire for an afternoon nap after a hard, although short, day, Ryan spoke to start a slightly different inquiry.

Jak stalled on the answer, watching the fire burn in the hearth. Ryan would be able to understand if Jak didn't particularly want to say, but he felt like he had some small right to know. Loor had been his friend too, and her presence was a possible danger.

"She went home." Jak finally answered. "But Onin... sent me after her."

Onin's name caused Ryan to cock his head with surprise. It was only with Onin's blessing that he had stayed in Haven, trusting the old crone to know the rights and wrongs of the universe. It was also Onin who had sent his sister home; back to where she felt she belonged, and also back to where she could tell Jak's story to the world... before she realized it was incomplete. "What? Why?"

"I'm actually not sure." Jak answered slowly. "At the time Onin said it was because Loor planned on screwing with the precursor device that regulated eco, which could cause trouble... but when I got there Loor had found that the device was out of her reach. She had no way of destroying it, which makes Onin's reason a smokescreen at best, and an outright lie at worst... and the only reason she'd have to lie to me is there was another reason that maybe she didn't want me to hear."

Ryan watched Jak's face; the youth had a particularly forlorn expression at the time. A bitter loneliness. "That, or maybe you didn't _need_ to hear it." Ryan posited.

"Huh?" Finally Jak looked away from the fire. "Are you saying she was just... justifying my reasons by giving a different one that had to do with world-ending cataclysm?"

"Onin is still human." Ryan wore a small smile. "And an old woman at that. I'd bet that she sees a little bit of herself in every young person that comes to her; all warring with the world to try and do something right, either for themselves or for others. It wouldn't surprise me if she was just giving you a reason that wasn't so... _personal, _so you'd have a ready explanation if anyone asked you. I mean, you _did_ just save us all; maybe that was her way of rewarding you for that."

Jak took all of this with a smile that had too many shadows to be true. "Loor's accident happened on the other side... when I went after her we had to wait till the right time to leave, and she had a confrontation with someone... you can imagine what happened, I bet."

"She changed." Ryan confirmed with wide eyes. "But without eco... she shorted?"

"Worse than the first time it happened to her." Jak confirmed, not asking just yet how Ryan knew about Loor's biochemistry and it's dealings with eco. "It happened as we were leaving, but even when she got what she needed, she didn't wake up. She stayed out of it for two months, till..." He trailed off, the corners of his lips falling. He couldn't hold the false smile.

"She woke up, and didn't remember anything." Ryan said so Jak wouldn't have to. "God... after dragging her back... You still love her, don't you?"

"She asked me the same thing last night." Jak put his head in one of his hands. "I can't help it... she looks the same, acts the same, talks the same way, still likes all the same things, and she's even warming up to me again... but she's empty inside. She's always looking for bits and pieces of what's missing, and who wouldn't?"

"Ah..." Ryan made a soothing noise, putting his hand on the table as if he meant to give Jak a comforting touch on the arm but simply didn't reach far enough. "Jak, why do you keep her with you?"

"What are you talking about?" Jak almost snapped at the question, his head rising up out of his hand to stare at Ryan. "She's lost in a world she doesn't even know, searching for a home that doesn't even exist, and you suggest I kick her out on her ass?"

"She doesn't remember her responsibility." Ryan responded in kind. "You know what I'm talking about, don't you?"

Jak knew; Loor was an extra to the time line; an unaccounted factor of events. In a careless moment she could change the future, and perhaps destroy it, depending on the action. "Onin told me directly to bring her back, I'm not too worried about her doing something wrong."

"And what if she _does_ because she doesn't remember the fact that she's supposed to be keeping her head low when she's around you?" Ryan demanded. "No one would even know before it was too late!"

"Am I still wearing the hero sign?!" Jak's voice rose, going from irritation to anger. "I don't _care_, Ryan. Haven tossed us out, there's not much of the world left, and I'm through thinking I can make even half of a difference! So you know what? Fuck it all. Loor and I are _sick. _I'm going to use what I've got left to do whatever the hell I care to, and if Loor happens to trip over the trigger to the end of existence, _so be it!" _

Shock hit Ryan as Jak stared at him with burning intensity. "You... you're serious. You don't care?"

"Yeah. What, are you going to try and talk me out of it? Because _you're_ an extra too, you know." Jak got to his feet with that, turning to leave the apartment without even a word of goodbye.

Ryan sat in his spot, staring at the door as it shut behind the angry youth, blinking. He wasn't exactly sure what just happened, but it felt like he'd gotten chewed out for telling the hero to be a hero. And worse, Jak was completely right; his opinion was irrelevant because he was an extra to this place. Jak's natural reactions were the ones to be trusted, and Ryan would just have to hope the world he'd decided to live in wouldn't end for it.

"... he talks like that, but he don't mean it..."

Ryan's eyes snapped back over to the fireplace. Daxter lay there, his eyes still closed, but he had just spoken. "He sounded like he meant it." Ryan blinked, wondering if the ottsel had simply been pretending to sleep.

"Oh, he means it, but he don't _mean it_ mean it." Daxter's little shoulders shrugged. "Part of him may want Haven to burn to the ground, but that's cause he does this his own way... somethin' shows up in his face he decides is important, and he's all over it, don't matter who he's saving... So yeah, he says he's ready to let the fat lady sing on all of this, but deep down he just hasn't found a place to grab on yet." The ottsel laughed softly. "Oh right... don't worry about Loor. She ain't gonna mess nothing up."

"What gives you such confidence in that?" Ryan asked suspiciously.

"She's with me and Jak, of course. Lady can't go wrong in that company."

* * *

><p>Loor was still nursing her swollen cheek by the time she passed by Ryan's place, deciding she wasn't quite ready to face the others and explain the lump and instead making her way towards the beach. She almost couldn't believe how quickly it had gotten dark, but she didn't mind it. The heat of the day was gone, and the stars were a more than stunning display. If her face didn't sting so much it would have been perfect. Granted, hiding her face was the main reason she was remaining outside to enjoy it. The idea of a paradox struck her, similar to the one that Artimus had outlined to her without explaining all of the details. A circle of cause and effect that, should the distasteful cause be removed, particular effects could never be enjoyed.<p>

She wondered if she was wandering more than one of those circles her current doings. Of course there was the one of the moment; without her sore face she wouldn't be outside to appreciate the stars, she'd be inside with the guys, but she had to wonder if there were any other ugly bits she was currently dealing with that would lead to sweet rewards. It was actually nice to think of the world in such a way; with balance in mind. That maybe the world would pay her back for making her suffer. She had no idea if things actually worked that way, but it was a nice thought. A little ridiculous, but nice.

Putting such thoughts out of her head with a sigh, she turned her eyes back forward to watch where she was going. She was getting close to the cliffs now, and only an idiot would space out enough to trip right over the edge on their way to the beach. That and her face hurt enough without it getting introduced to the ground. Looking ahead, she saw something that made her blink.

She was sure she'd just seen Jak ahead of her, turning a sharp right around the last building before the cliffs. He'd been moving fast, and she wasn't sure if it was him, but she was curious enough to speed up her own walk. If it had been him, he'd been alone; no Dax on his shoulder. That and the particular gait he'd been moving with had been... aggressive. Angry.

In seconds she was trotting after the glimpse she'd gotten, looking to verify what she had or had not seen. Coming out of the buildings and around the corner, she looked to find herself correct on all counts. It was indeed Jak, stomping along the cliff line like he was trying to burn off angry energy all by his lonesome. She had to wonder what upset him, not breaking her stride to continue after him. He hadn't noticed her, and that was okay because she had an idea.

Rushing up behind him, she slipped her arms around him to hug him. He almost tripped when she impacted on his back, but managed to stay standing while shuddering to a stop. She took firm hold of him, arms wrapping around his ribs while landing her chin on the shoulder that didn't have armor. He'd let out a noise of surprise, his hands raising as if he intended to defend himself, but they fell a moment later when he was able to identify her out of the corner of his eye. "Loor." His voice came out in an unexpected chuckle. "I was wondering where you were."

"Wandering around." She didn't let him go right away, squeezing as his arms crossed over hers, palms over her hands. "What'cha doing by yourself?"

"Figured you had the right of it." He answered. "Sometimes it's good to get a little space..."

"Do you still need space?" She asked, her tone going sheepish as she relaxed her grip, ready to let go if asked. "You just looked upset, so-"

"It's fine." he assured. "You're fine."

"You sure?" She questioned.

"Sure I'm sure. You don't believe me?"

"You've spent so much energy looking after me." There was a guilty note in her voice. "Sometimes I wonder if you forget to think about yourself now and then. Sometimes I wonder if you tell me it's okay just so I won't worry."

He didn't answer her right away, seeing as she hadn't so much asked a question as she had made a statement. Instead he dropped his hands and turned to face her, causing her grasp to open and fall away in the process. At first his face was comprised in thought, but that changed when he saw her face properly. "What the...?" He reached out to touch her swelling cheek. "What happened to you?"

She winced, wishing she had some way to hide the lump. Artimus hadn't been holding back when he hit her. "Said the wrong thing to the wrong person... particularly, the dude with the mask." She offered a sheepish smile. "I deserved it, honestly."

"What did you say to him?"

She shrugged, motioning for him to keep walking. "He asked me a question. I told him the truth. He... wanted to know where my sister was."

Jak blinked. "He knew her?"

"Is that so surprising?" Loor batted back as the two of them fell in step. "Haven's a big city, lotta people. Did Chelsea not get a chance to meet very many people?"

Jak blinked. "You remember her name?"

She served him a hard glare; he wasn't evading his way out of this one. Where she picked up Chelsea's name could be discussed later; she'd asked him a question and prayed for a straight answer for once.

"She..." He hesitated, even with the way she was looking at him. "Didn't survive long after you two escaped the fortress. She was killed on a mission on her second day. The body was burned; I'm pretty sure the FL still has the ashes... though it wasn't a real professional cremation. We did the best we could with what we had."

"_Ashes...!" _Loor couldn't tell if she was amazed or disconcerted by the whole idea. "I suppose... metal heads would scavenge anything buried outside of the city..."

Jak nodded, a beat of silence intervening before he changed the subject back to what he was curious about. "So the guy with the mask clocked you one when you told him Chelsea was dead?"

"Mmmhm. Pretty solid hit too... He... uh... he'd met her while she was in the fortress; he was one of the KG who was in on the Baron's science project. He was banished before Chelsea and I escaped, so he didn't know what happened to her, and while in the fortress he'd kinda gotten to care about her. He wanted to protect her... when he found out, and I wasn't too kind in presenting the news, he whacked me."

"You said it was your fault, didn't you?"

She looked to him in slight shock, wondering how he knew that as they made an about-face to turn back to the ocean.

He put a hand on her head, ruffling her hair with a sigh. His body language spoke where he did not; apparently this was an ugly habit of hers.

"Well, you made it sound like my fault when you told me." She defended, ducking away from his hand before smoothing her hair back as best she could. It was too dirty to do much with, but she had to try. "But... I blamed myself before?"

"I don't know. You never said so out loud, but you spent a lot of time... thinking, Mar only knows what about." He growled softly. "Y'know, this why I don't like you asking me questions about yourself."

"Huh?" She sensed a change in his mood, or perhaps the breaking of a mask; Jak was still irritated. A slight urge to back off went through her, but she held her ground. "What do you mean?"

"Because I _don't_ _know. _You kept a lot of crazy crap to yourself; aside from running around with me you had like three other things you were doing in Haven, and I don't know anything about any of them. I'm _not_ an expert on who you used to be. I knew you in Haven, and you were there for what? A month outside of prison? Less?" He let off a harsh, barking laugh. "Y'know, _you_ hardly knew who you were then_._ How the hell am _I_ supposed to tell you now_?_"

"I don't know either, and I can't help wanting to know!" She snapped back. "And that works for the stuff you don't know, but you've been outright keeping things from me Jak, and I know it! I'm not stupid, and brain damage doesn't mean I've slowed down. You might not know some things, but there's a good chunk that you don't want to tell me, and I'm getting a bit sick of it!" She reached out, unaware of how roughly she grabbed him so that she could get in his face. "What are you keeping from me? What are you hiding from me?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you!" He snarled, throwing her hand off and stepping up in aggression. "But you'd think about it, and you'd put together other things..."

His body was tense; they'd stopped walking as the confrontation rose and he had all the advantages. She was forced to look up at him as they stood nearly nose-to-nose, aware of how he was bigger and heavier than her. The aura of danger he put out was exhilarating and frightening, making her blood run hot with adrenaline. "What other things?" She demanded. "That's what you're protecting, isn't it? All the rest doesn't matter, whatever I will and won't believe, you just don't want me puzzling!"

His face was twisted, a complicated expression showing everything his body language had already told her and just a little bit more; there was a measure of fear as she hit upon what was really going on. That tick, that slight shadow on his face that melded with all of his aggravation gone to rage, was what made her so sure she was right in her accusations. Her past wasn't what he was so desperate to hide; he wasn't been trying to get her to remember on her own simply for the fact that it was better that way; he'd been stalling as long as possible on telling her something else. Still, as it seemed he would break and speak, his head ducked down to look away.

She made an indignant sound, stepping forward and giving him a shove. "Silence is as good as lying!"

Be it the shove or her words, she'd put him over the edge. She knew it when he pushed her back; hard enough to make her stumble backwards. It had been a hard whack to the chest with both hands, leaving her slightly winded as she tried to regain her footing. She wouldn't let herself be scared of him; forcing herself upright as soon as her feet were stable again. He was right there, walking with that stomping gait again, grabbing her shoulders and breathing harder than the situation warranted. He was struggling, trying to form words or perhaps just to spit them out.

"It's my fault."

His voice was just as rough and tortured as his posture and expression, sending a shudder through her. "What is?" She asked, softer now.

"That you forgot everything. It's my fault."

The words left her gaping at him, her mouth open and formless. With the minimum of information, she did exactly what he expected; she puzzled. It didn't take her long to put it together. Her brain had been burned out; a strong shock of eco directly to the head would have done it. The doctors had blamed the wire harness that had been on her head to monitor brain activity, but she'd been sure there was no way such a little thing would have been able to produce such an aggressive spark. She'd been left clueless as to what could have possibly done it, but that's because she'd been assuming it was an accident for all of this time.

She knew she'd woken up without her memories. She hadn't thought that she'd been stripped of her memories _because_ she'd been woken up. She hadn't put the two events together. She had no reason to.

"You..." She wasn't sure how long the silence lasted between them, but she was the first to speak. "You jolted me!"

"You weren't waking up." His head had lowered again. "I wasn't going to lose you again. I busted my ass to save you from yourself, and I wasn't going to lose you again!"

She didn't take the time to stare at him, only lifting her arms to shrug off his now loose hands and hug his head to her chest. What he'd done hadn't been an accident, but at the same time it had. She could see the logic behind it; she knew she'd been hospitalized for a shortage. A direct shock to the brain made sense; the consequences were the accident... but he must have feared her reaction to the news. "Jak..."

He reacted quickly, returning the hug by wrapping his arms around her ribs with an almost crushing force. In the darkness of the night having fully fallen they were alone with this moment, and she was glad for it. Such vulnerability from them both would likely be frowned upon if it were seen. It was only them, though, and that meant she could laugh as he pulled her somewhat off of her feet while bending her head to his, giggling when he finally put her back down after a long squeeze. The struggle on his face was long gone, replaced by a full smile that she didn't get to see often. He still held her, hands settled on her hips while her arms rested on his shoulders. It was a moment of almost bewildered eye-contact; he must have been sure she would have reacted to his confession with rage, but instead she had showed understanding.

The two of them cracked up, laughing at the whole thing. "I... suppose you'll want me to explain the rest to you now, huh?" He asked, the tension dialing down by the second.

Her arms shifted, pulling her hands in to hold his head between them. She looked at him with a smile of simple relief. Standing tall to catch him, she kissed him. It was a quick gesture, her hands sliding to hang on his scarf as they parted. "I won't ask any more questions. You were right about the rest; I should discover it myself. Anyway, you said I wouldn't believe you... so I just have to wait to believe myself."

* * *

><p><strong>The Author's Corner<strong>

Had to resist writing something sexy at the end of this chapter. It would have been soooo easy and soooo fun, but useless story-wise.

'Understanding' is like Loor's chief character trait. That and 'hard-headed' Seriously, Jak's carrying a full eco charge at this moment in the story. If she'd pushed him too hard, she would've gotten worse than a swollen cheek.

ONWARDS!

-Loor


	34. Under Advisement

**I don't own Jak and Daxter.**

**Vacation or War-Endgame  
><strong>**Chapter Thirty Four-Under Advisement**

Daxter was fast asleep when Loor and Jak returned to Ryan's place, and the man of the house was nowhere to be seen in the main room. One could only assume he'd vanished to his own room for the night, though he could have just as easily gone out. To be totally honest, neither of the teenagers cared. Brief laughter had come out of a frivolous and intimate exchange, the two of them practically tripping over each other as they came through the door. The tension that had been raised during their argument in the streets had been put toward different and perhaps more positive things, though one could argue that tension was only driven higher with each stolen kiss.

Sadly, they had come back because of the reality that tomorrow would be another day. There was a joy in what they were sharing, but also a very particular torture. Loor knew it quite well, but she had no doubt that Jak knew it better at the moment; it was obvious in the way he kept looking at her, the way he held her even as the door shut behind them. His grip was demanding, his eyes hungry. He seemed drunk on the moment, forgetting the fact that they were supposed to stop now that they were back inside and instead sweeping her around again for just one more kiss. There was no tenderness in this action; nearly violent affection expressed as she found herself backed up to the wall. By instinct her hands seized him at the biceps, but the threat was empty as her lips submitted all too easily.

She'd been just like him the night before. She remembered the near thoughtless action, and realized now what it meant; Jak was not acting alone. The animal was watching, quietly pushing, heightening minor pleasures and enforcing a craving for even greater gratification.

Her thoughts failed momentarily when he pressed her to the wall, scrabbling for wisps of things that had just been on her mind a moment before. She _had_ been thinking about something, hadn't she?

Making herself care was almost painful. Pinned between him and the wall, her brain didn't _want_ to turn back on. His skin was hot to the touch, a sensual joy over hard muscle under her fingers. Ruthless was the word for his lips, a moment only given to draw air and to change the angle before he had her again. At any other time she would have been overwhelmingly aware of how filthy they both were with sweat, blood, and sand, but right now all her nose was willing to detect was a tangy scent that was so pleasing it was beyond explanation. At the time, all her mind could comprehend was that she was being ravaged by a man who kissed, smelled, and felt like a god, and she did _not_ want to argue.

In fact, she wanted to play. Demand passed through her along with a shudder as she desperately tried to keep her vocal nature to herself. Her resistance was futile, of course, proven when he left her lips and went for her neck, nosing her scarf out of the way as needed. She felt the desire to return the gesture, lips passing his skin, only to gasp softly instead when he skipped on a kiss for a playful nip.

"Listen to you..." He laughed, growling by her ear, his breath passing her cheek in warm bursts. His voice was like sin; rough, evil, and _candy_ to the listener. He felt dangerous to her again, but in an entirely new way.

"Can't help it..." She whined, same as she had the night before. She maintained her grip on his arms, though she'd forgotten about her original thought of pushing him away. At first she considered pulling him back in, inviting herself to be dominated, but that wasn't the direction they needed to be moving right now. "You're so horrible..." She muttered. "Tease."

"Can't help it." He returned with a snicker, using her own excuse against her as a joke. He kissed her cheek, moving to continue the torture when she finally summoned the willpower to ease him away. He had a questioning look on his face at first, but it didn't take him long to come back to reality after she gave him the nudge.

"Sorry." She muttered, feeling blush spread across her cheeks as he backed off, allowing her to get away from the wall and lower her head sheepishly as she moved for the mat she'd slept on the night before; Ryan had left them out as far as she could tell, it hadn't moved an inch. "R-really..."

"Don't be." He was quick to sit down, offering a strained smile. Even after realizing the situation he was restraining himself. She had to turn away while removing the holsters for her effects; she felt like he was undressing her with his eyes. "It's just the way it is."

"I still feel bad." She mumbled, mostly to herself though she was sure he heard her. It wasn't like she started it or anything, but she could have resisted a bit earlier to avoid this kind of tension. And last night she _had_ started it. She felt like a bad pattern was starting to form.

She also remembered the night terror she'd had in direct relation to the evening previous. She'd indulged in the transformation recently, so the chances of nightmares tonight were pretty low for her, but she couldn't help glancing at Jak as she finished getting free of all the leather straps that had been on her body. She was positive he was carrying his maximum charge; he'd held back during the arena fight so that she could let loose. She felt bad for him, sure that he would suffer nocturnal torture tonight of similar magnitude of what she'd suffered the night before, though she didn't know if it would be of similar nature. She felt terribly for that, but perhaps it was the best.

If they'd gone the other way with the arena fight, and she'd been left with the max charge, she would have lost it when Artimus hit her. She had no doubt that he'd be dead if that happened.

"Yeah?" Jak asked as she stared at him, her gaze going blank as her thoughts raced through.

She looked down for a moment, a different set of thoughts going through her mind. He didn't press her when she didn't respond, simply setting to removing his own effects as she sat there with her eyes glued to her mat.

Jak looked up to find her dragging her mat over next to his, putting herself in the space between him and the wall. He didn't verbally ask the question, but his eyes expressed it as he continued in the process of getting out of his holster, already free of his armor.

"I..." She seemed to be at a loss for words herself. "Well... I donno, but maybe if I'm next to you... maybe the nightmares won't be so bad... I just wanna help, y'know?"

He blinked at her, but followed the blank look of surprise with a smile. "I kick sometimes." He warned jokingly.

"I'll kick back." She assured, lying down and hefting a long yawn that ended in a squeak that she'd learned was unavoidable. Despite the somewhat lighter day, she was beat. She knew she was going to fall asleep quickly, maybe before he even laid down, but there was one last thing she had to say to him.

Last night she'd decided she didn't want to have regrets.

Tonight she'd come to another revelation.

"I love you." She said while looking up at him. It made him turn and look at her again as he'd just pulled his goggles off to add to the pile of effects he didn't sleep with if he didn't have to. His lips were parted to question the statement, but the smile she wore was just too happy to doubt.

Instead, he leaned down to kiss the top of her head, smoothing back her hair. "I love you too."

She nodded, still wearing that smile as her eyes drifted closed. He watched her as her face slowly relaxed into the indifference of sleep, stretching his arms over his head and hesitant to lay down himself. As Loor had already mentioned, there were nightmares likely waiting for him. As hard as he tried to keep the animal locked out of his head, he could feel _it_ pushing at him. It was waiting for him; waiting for the inevitable moment when his guard would come down in his dreams.

Worse still was the sickness; even with the animal blocked out, Jak could feel the eco. It was worse than ever now that there were no distractions left; making him shiver despite the general warmth of the room. He couldn't believe how quickly he and Loor were declining; if the pattern continued he couldn't imagine either of them functioning for much longer than a week or two into the future.

"So... you're sick."

Jak's head jerked to the other side of the room, where Daxter was _still_ curled up by the fire. Jak had assumed his friend was sleeping like a rock, but it would seem that Daxter was awake, and had been awake earlier if his words were anything to go off of. "Dax... you heard that, huh?"

"You bet, brother." The ottsel's head lifted up, the rest of his little fuzzy body following into a stretching motion that eventually found him upright. "I'd hoped the Baron had been bluffing when he talked about that... No wonder you two have been acting like there might not be a tomorrow." Daxter snickered, turning his attention to the moment Jak and Loor had been sharing. "Not that that's a bad thing, but jeez, remember you don't have the room to yourself."

"Like you've never gotten caught up in a moment with Tess." Jak pointed out with a slight glare. "But... yeah. I try not to think about it."

"Hey, it's a big world, right?" Daxter encouraged. "This desert is home to all kinds of weird stuff. Maybe we'll find something?"

"Still holding out hope you'll get to wear pants again?"

"Always, baby." Daxter laughed. "There is _always_ hope for pants."

* * *

><p>"I swear, if I don't find a place to bathe soon, I'm going to die." Loor whined, scratching her head vigorously as she, Jak, and Daxter got out onto the streets the next morning. Ryan had fed them, as was becoming usual, and Loor was dying for running water. Her face felt greasy and dry at the same time, and had a spot behind her ear that she couldn't bring herself to stop bothering. "Precursors help me, I smell horrible..."<p>

"Missing the city, huh toots?" Daxter was laughing as Jak rolled his eyes. Granted, she was voicing a general grievance, but the boys certainly weren't going to speak up on it first. Now that she'd said something, it was just the topic of the morning. "Granted, I could use a hose down too in this dust bowl."

"You could always go jump in the ocean." Jak pointed out as they started walking. Another pattern that was forming was reporting to Kleiver first thing in the morning.

"_Euch!" _Daxter groused. "The salt'll cake in my fur!"

"When did you get to be so hygienic?" Loor asked; Daxter seemed the type to be a little loose on bathing habits.

"Sweetie, did you ever touch my fur back in the city?" Daxter combed his ears back as if it were a full head of hair. "I let Tess bathe me once and I got addicted to how soft I felt after using conditioner. After getting used to that, this is just..." The ottsel shook himself, shuddering.

"Eh, I'm just looking for running fresh water. A spring, something." Loor had switched hands for scratching, cocking her head to better her angle. "I miss my hair being soft too, but right now I'd just settle for not feeling so freakin' gunky."

Jak and Daxter glanced at each other, a smile and a laugh being shared. "No skinny-dipping, alright sweets?" Daxter requested with a grin that was almost too big for his little face. "Or at least if you do, no getting mad at me for peaking!"

"What?" She gaped at the boys as they both made an effort not to laugh at the look on her face. "Don't tell me I've done that before. Have I done that before?"

"You just told us not to tell you." Jak pointed out, hiding a chuckle behind his hand.

Her face turned crimson, though whether it was embarrassment or rage was anyone's guess. "You've gotta be kidding me..."

"Tch, don't worry about it toots. I'm naked all the time, you don't see me getting bent outta shape over it!"

"You have fur! It doesn't count."

"Still drafty." Daxter pointed out. "Ah... what I'd give for a pair of pants..."

Loor gave Daxter a somewhat narrowed look as they neared the door to the garage area. "Huh... Y'know, given time and material I could probably sew you a set."

"_Really?" _This got Daxter's genuine attention, jumping to lay on top of Jak's head and stare at Loor. "You mean it?"

"Uh..." She found his enthusiasm a little sudden, managing a humble shrug. "Yeah. I made a bunch of pillows and stuff back in Haven when I couldn't sleep; I'm pretty handy with a needle and thread. Assuming we could find that stuff out here, along with the time, I'd be willing."

Daxter turned his gaze down to Jak, who hadn't reacted to the ottsel lying on top of his head. "Jak, I love your girlfriend. Can we keep her?"

"You were gonna throw me out before?" Loor joked.

The three of them laughed as they hit the gate, the door clunking open automatically and letting them through. Kleiver was where they expected him to be; waiting on the other side by one of his vehicles. He stood there with the same gun he'd been cleaning the day before, though today he held it more seriously. The big wastelander looked as soon as the door was open, eyes narrowing in tangible annoyance and irritation.

"Morning." Loor greeted, finally giving her constant scratching a rest to shoot the chunk of a man a cocky smile. She was feeling pretty good this morning, despite all the usual dampers. Now she was making a point of taking a page out of Daxter's book and smiling at the people she didn't like too much. It seemed to piss them off. "What do you got for us today, Kleiver?"

"_Damas_ has a job for us." Kleiver stressed the fact that this was an order coming from on-high. "But I'm no babysitter, so you nippers better stay outta my way!" He punctuated his threatening voice with a gesture of his weapon, as if he meant to hit either Jak or Loor over the head with the big heavy bit on the end.

"What, think we're gonna make you look bad?" Loor stepped up, loosing the smile to go back to her usual behavior. It made more sense to her to meet aggression with aggression. "What is _with_ you people? We've done everything thrown at us so far, and you talk like we're nothing but a bunch of drooling brats."

"You short poppies haven't been around long enough to know anything." Kleiver snorted. "You mind your manners, Shelia, or someone'll beat 'em into your head."

Jak moved to get in front of Loor, raising his chin to glare at Kleiver. He didn't say anything, simply commanding that the big man back off with his eyes.

"What, got something to prove, ankle-biter?" Kleiver seemed amused by Jak's attempt at intimidation.

"Jak's not afraid of you!" Daxter crowed defiantly before looking down at his partner. "Are ya, Jak?"

Kleiver held his ground in the stare-down until he heard the sound of the door to the city clunking open again. With the thud he backed off, putting a smile back on under his mustache. "If you knew what was happening out here, you'd be afraid all right."

Jak had made a motion to press the issue, taking the small amount of space that Kleiver had allowed as him giving up ground. He'd paid no mind to the door opening, but Loor had turned and looked.

Damas had come through, and was now staring at the exchange going on. The sand king was alone, marching up to the group and demanding an explanation. "What's going on here?"

Jak jerked back to look as Kleiver did his best to act innocent. "Nothing, your lordship. Just offering Jak, Loor, and the little one here," Kleiver actually reached out to scratch Daxter under the chin. The ottsel cringed. "Some _healthy_ advice."

Damas glanced to the faces of those assembled. Loor watched a conflict play out on the king's face, indecision passing his violet eyes before he turned and took Jak by the shoulder, leading him a few steps away from the group. Loor stared on as the king of Spargus lowered his head to speak in whispers to a newcomer who hadn't even earned full citizenship yet. She blinked a few times, looking back over to Kleiver for some kind of explanation for the behavior.

Surprising her, Kleiver had a look that reflected respect and a small measure of pity. He said nothing to her curious eyes, simply shaking his head to discourage her from speaking. This wasn't like the moments of bickering and contests of intimidation; the wastelander was serious. Now was not the time to ask.

In moments Damas had turned again, He, Jak, and Daxter rejoining the group an continuing on as if nothing had happened. "Jak, Loor, I want you two to go with Kleiver into the desert and herd a group of young lizards into a waiting transport. We must prepare for whatever lies ahead, I need all the resources we can gather."

"Lizards?" Loor had to ask. "Like the ones here in the city?"

"Yes." Damas nodded. "They are versatile mounts, and there's an abundance of young ones gathering in the ruins of an old village. We'll take a number of them and leave the majority for the desert to cultivate. As I said, the transport is already in place."

"No problem." Jak was wearing a smile now. "I'm good with animals."

Daxter gave his partner a look before making a silly face.

Kleiver turned to saddle up his own vehicle as the king gave a nod of dismissal. "I'll see you out there, '_chums.'_" He said with a dangerous smile and a grunting chuckle.

Loor couldn't help growling under her breath as she and Jak turned to go to their own vehicle, Damas doing an about-face himself to leave the garage and go about his business elsewhere.

* * *

><p><strong>The Author's Corner<strong>

MEOW.

Moving on.

Please don't forget to review.

-Loor


	35. Odds and Ends

**I do not own Jak and Daxter. Think anyone would give a fuck if I forgot this disclaimer on every fucking chapter? Meh, whatever. **

**Vacation or War-Endgame  
><strong>**Chapter Thirty Five-Odds and Ends**

Strapping into the driver's seat was something that actually made Loor a little nervous; Kleiver was just in front of them, leading the trouble trio across the desert to the ruins and the transport that Damas had talked about. Granted, it _was_ her turn, and Jak had all but insisted she take the handlebars this time, even when she tried to back out. "You can't _always_ sit in the passenger seat." He had told her with a chuckle that carried a stern undertone. Buckling up and finding the controls similar to the smaller vehicle she'd driven before, she only gave a mildly miffed huff back. As much as her residual memories were helping her, she was still nervous about screwing up where people could see her. Jak and Dax were one case; they'd rib her about it for a while if she made a dumb mistake, but she could return a punch in the arm or a tug to the tail, respectively, in response. Kleiver, on the other hand, was both out of her league and weight-class to mess with if he decided to get on her case for a mistake, dumb or otherwise.

That awareness made her concentrate on what she was doing, pulling her new goggles over her eyes for the first time and tugging up the scarf pooled around her neck to cover her face as they left the city. Both covers were a god-send while driving, keeping the sand out of her face and shielding her eyes from the sun, since the lenses of the goggles were tinted dark green.

It was early morning, the sun rising on the wasteland and banishing the relative cool of the night. The air rushing by as they hit top end was refreshing and brisk, clearing Loor's sleepy senses and actually causing her to smile under her scarf. Following Kleiver in his vehicle was the first thought on her mind, but it was quickly followed by a particular serenity garnered from running up and down sand dunes at top speed on such a quiet morning.

Her shoulders came out of their tense state, her hands adhering to a more natural and relaxed grip on the wheel and shift. She could do this. Jak seemed to have some faith in her, or else he wouldn't be pushing her to try. Still, she wasn't sure how one would herd lizards in a car. She felt like they'd be too easy to run over and too hard to predict.

Considering these things on this calm and quiet morning, she felt almost sandbagged by the feeling that tugged on her body and mind. It was how noises seemed louder in a silent room; the absence of major pondering or introspective sensations had left her particularly attentive to this; the sense that a creature that carried eco was somewhere out there. Her head lifted, eyes drifting from her path as she reacted the same way she had the last time she'd been struck by such a sense; she was desperate to find the source. Where was she feeling this from? She remembered from when she'd come out to the wasteland alone; this same feeling had tickled her just as gently, and the curiosity of where or what it was coming from was going to drive her insane.

Out of the corner of her eye, she caught Jak's head lifting as well. Did he feel it too?

"Whoa, toots, eyes on the road!" Daxter cried as Loor's path started to drift towards one of the pillars of rocks that stood up out of the sand.

Cursing, Loor looked back to the rear wheels of Kleiver's vehicle in front of them, getting back on track and away from the possible collision. "Ack-!" She puffed after the fact, all of the tension she'd felt before about possible mistakes rushing back. "Damnit, there _is_ no road!"

"And yet, you still manage to nearly run into something." Daxter pointed out with a smirk on his fuzzy mug. "That takes skill, sweets!"

Loor growled but did her best not to let Daxter get to her, instead stealing a glance back at Jak; he was still scanning around like she had been before a moment before. "... Jak, you alright?" She asked, not exactly sure of how to phrase the question she actually wanted to ask.

He didn't answer right away; he must have still felt it. Loor, on the other hand, had lost the sense when she'd been startled back into her worrisome state. She was just feeling too many other things to be open to such a weak trace.

After several sweeps of his head as he tried to zero in on the sense, Jak leaned back into his seat with a sigh. "Yeah, I think so... I just..." He paused. He was having the same problem.

"What's up with you two?" Daxter asked, clearly oblivious but still curious. Something was really wrong when Loor wasn't up to bickering with him, apparently.

"Desert playing tricks on us." Jak answered with a half-hearted snicker. "Place is gonna drive me insane at this rate..."

"Awe, don't let it get to ya." Daxter encouraged. "It's just a really big sandbox with guns and monsters, that's all."

Loor snorted, rolling her eyes. Daxter was right, but that was the issue; it was a big sandbox with guns and _monsters. _How many shapes of monsters, Loor was both curious and mortified to find out. She had to wonder...

Was there another monster living out here wearing a human's shape?

She had to shake that thought; she couldn't fight something she couldn't see.

It wasn't much longer before they arrived at the ruins. As Damas said, there were young leapers all around, running about and munching on bunches of cacti that grew up out of the ground. Like any feral animal they fled from the sound of engines, though they immediately ran back to chomp away at the cacti that was crushed under the wheels of the vehicles. The ruins appeared to have been a small village once upon a time, but it was clear it was abandoned and slowly crumbling. On top of that, the sand was burying it. Some was kept back by the plant life, but the broken walls had plenty of sand drifted onto them. Loor had no doubt that in a few years this little ruin would vanish under the wasteland's ever changing topography.

The transport was settled into the center of this place; an empty town square now occupied by a huge cage of metal bars and electrified gates to keep animals contained. Kleiver pulled around this thing, making a full circle to catch the trouble trio driver's side-to-driver's side, both of them stopping to talk. "Try not to crush too many of 'em nippers! I'll stay here and control the gates, you go and herd 'em in."

"And he says he ain't a babysitter..." Daxter grumbled, realizing that Kleiver was saddling them up with the work while he sat back and watched.

"Any tips?" Loor asked while pulling down her scarf; it was awkward to talk through it.

"Leapers are herd animals; they stick together in groups." For once, Kleiver was forthcoming. "Figure out which one is the tall poppy, and chase him. The others will follow wherever he runs off ta'."

"Beautiful." Loor muttered; not meaning to be ungrateful but she got the feeling that this job was going to be fiddly as fuck. "Let's get on with it, then." With that she shifted back into gear, aiming to drive back out of the ruins and circle around to find a group. "You two got any bright ideas?" She asked once they were well away from Kleiver and back in the open. "I'm no expert, but I'm pretty sure chasing small animals with a big car is going to end up with a fair few pieces of roadkill before we successfully pen any of them."

"Probably." Jak didn't sound particularly impressed either. "Though Kleiver and the others are probably used to that; it sounds like he's done this before. Breaking a few eggs to make an omelet, so to speak."

Cruising in a long arc around the ruins, Daxter was the next to speak up as they started to approach a group of five lizards. "Hey, why not ride 'em?"

"What?" Loor asked, but the ottsel had moved from Jak's shoulder to the roll cage of the vehicle without bothering to explain his idea. Loor glanced to Jak, who had no hints to offer her, just a shrug. "Dax, the hell are you doing?"

"Get close!" The ottsel shouted back, wearing a dare-devil grin now. If Loor didn't know better, she would say Jak was rubbing off on him.

Still unsure, she put her foot to the floor anyway and concentrated on the young lizards they were quickly approaching. Keeping Kleiver's advice in mind, Loor saw one of the leapers raise it's head before the others did, looking at the oncoming vehicle and turning with a croaking squeal to warn the others. If she had to guess, that one was the leader for this group, and she was sure Daxter had seen it too. First pushing fast enough to catch up, she decided to keep the group on the outside of the ruins instead of shoving them into the maze of buildings right away. Cutting to the inside, then pulling even, she only saw out of the very edge of her vision that Daxter was climbing along the roll cage of the vehicle to be as close as possible to the group of lizards.

"Get me closer!" He demanded, since Loor was still keeping a semi-safe distance; she really didn't wanna run one of these little guys over by accident. Still, she did as he asked, veering over and hoping the leaper in front was smart and fast enough to make the turn to get around the vehicle.

As she made the turn, Daxter made a leap. Screaming with the sudden rush, the ottsel landed on the back of the lead leaper and, with surprising swiftness, took control of the little beast, though Loor hadn't a clue how Dax was steering it.

And, just as Kleiver said, the others followed the leader. Screeching to a halt as not to interfere with Daxter's plan by scaring the lizards further, she leaned forward in her seat to watch as Dax led the whole group into the maze of buildings.

"Well, that's a new way to do things." Jak chuckled with a grin.

"No shit." Loor laughed, getting back into gear and going the long way around to meet Daxter back at the transport. "Hopefully Kleiver finds it more impressive than silly."

"Hey, these guys are all about doing what you can with what you've got, right?" Jak pointed out. "This is just getting creative."

"Creative... Right." She pulled her scarf back up over her face. Well, that was certainly one word for it. Seriously, she had no idea where Dax came up with this stuff.

* * *

><p>To say the look on Kleiver's face had been priceless when Daxter came riding in on a leaper lizard was a bit of an understatement. Using the same trick multiple times ruined the novelty, of course, but that was all well and fine. What started as mild shock and surprise morphed into a begrudging look of appreciation for what they were doing. In almost no time at all they had all the lizards they needed and not a single casualty; not bad for two newbies and a rat... though it was Dax who had gotten the idea and done all of the work. Loor was just the driver, and Jak very well could have been taking the nap in the passenger seat for all anyone cared. Coming around for the last time to pick the ottsel up as she scurried out of the leaper enclosure, Loor came to a stop when she saw that Kleiver had gotten out of his vehicle and waved for her to come and talk.<p>

Killing the engine and pulling the hand brake, both she and Jak got out while pushing their goggles up and scarves down. Daxter stayed on ground level, a smug grin on his face at a job done well and quickly. No one needed to tell him he'd done good, though if someone did his ego would likely swell at an exponential rate past it's current inflation.

Kleiver's eyes went between all three members of the trio, conflict on his face. There was no denying he was impressed, but there was still his general ick against them as newbies.

Finally, he smiled. "I have to admit, you got some talent, kids."

"Does that mean you'll cut it out with the condescending nick-names?" Loor quested.

"Asks the nipper who nearly crashed in the middle of the desert?" Kleiver returned in his usual manner. "I think not, Sheila."

"How about another job?" Jak asked while Loor turned crimson with both embarrassment and rage at her mistake being pointed out. "If you've got anything else for us, we'll take it."

"Two brawls down in the arena, and you're still eager." He gestured back at the vehicle he'd driven out with a chuckle in his voice. "I don't have anything right now, but I'd say you kids have earned the rights to another one of me vehicles. Spend a little time explorin' to get used to her; she can take a little gettin' used to at first, but she'd damn useful once you know how."

"Damn straight!" Daxter was grinning.

"How generous." Loor muttered, though not actually loud enough for anyone beside her to know she'd said anything. Then, spitting out the words in her tongue-tied condition; "Explore _what?" _Were the only words she managed out of the angry paragraph she'd mentally come up with of how they were in the middle of a desert and there was fuck all of interest to see.

Kleiver was as smug as she was flustered. "There's more out here than you'd think, nipper." He then moved to take the vehicle they'd driven out to this mission. "It's got a map like the Sand Shark does, even a few points of interest marked if you care for 'em."

_Sand Shark?_ Apparently the vehicles had names. "The hell is that thing called?" She asked, pointing at the other vehicle. The more she looked at it, the more its construction bothered her. It looked like most of the vehicle's mas was focused on a strange suspension system that she was having trouble working out by just looking at it."

"Eh? That's the Dune Hopper." He was ducking into the driver's seat of the Sand Shark now. "Treat 'er nice, pups, and bring 'er back in one piece!"

With that, the big wastelander rolled over the Sand Shark's engine and was gone; off to return to the city and report to Damas that the lizards were ready to be picked up.

"Jeez, Loor." Daxter laughed, moving to climb up Jak's side and get back to his shoulder. "Enough questions? You grill Kleiver every time we talk to him."

"I Don't trust him." She said shortly, still effected by the embarrassed energy coursing through her. She doubted she'd remaster her way with words for another hour, and that was assuming no one else ribbed her about her abilities behind the wheel. Then, just as shortly, she made a sharp turn to climb up into the new vehicle. "C'mon, let's go. He said somethin' about a map..." She wouldn't be surprised it Kleiver's prodding for them to spend some time outside the walls was him encouraging them to find a particular place out in the sand.

That was, assuming, he wasn't trying to get them killed. According to her, that was still entirely possible. The more paranoid part of her mind argued that this whole thing of giving them yet another vehicle with a marker on the map could be an attempt to lead the three of them into a deadly situation. The more logical part of her mind rebutted that argument with the fact that if Kleiver wanted them dead he could just shoot them in the face and not put one of his vehicles at risk; the wastelanders were all about survival of the fittest. He wouldn't even have to pretend it was an accident.

About to saddle up, Jak caught her shoulder and brought her back to Earth. "Hey!" He snickered. "What are you doing?" He asked, tugging her away from the driver's side. "It's _my_ turn to drive now; you had your go... jeez, I had to force you into the driver's seat earlier, and now you're trying to take my turn." He teased.

"Oh..." She was still red from the exchanged with Kleiver. "Uh.. Oops?" She laughed it off, backing out of Jak's way to go around the wide wheel base and get over to the passenger side.

"Get over it, sweets!" Daxter groaned as Jak climbed up into the driver's seat, eagerly looking over the controls. "Little back-and-forth never hurt nobody."

"Doesn't change the fact that I wanna hurt him... like a lot." She responded, almost having to jump a little to get up to her seat. This vehicle, thankfully, had proper seat belts. Actually, it had more than that; both a traditional lap belt was employed as well as straps that came down over the shoulders and hooked into a middle section of the lap belt; in other words, a full safety harness. Putting the buckles together was something her hands did easily, feeling as if she'd seen a similar design somewhere... "Wait... this is..." Over the shoulder meant... well it could mean a lot of things. All of the vehicles were rough-and-tumble, but this design made her think of something very particular. "This is like a racing harness."

"Eh?" Both Jak and Daxter looked at her as she fiddled with the straps. Jak recognized the look on her face as she was having a half-in half-out experience with her brain.

"I've sat in a car with these before." She said with conviction. "It wasn't mine; I was a little kid, I couldn't even reach the pedals... but someone showed me how the straps worked. It's so, no matter what happens, the driver stays in the vehicle, even if it goes over and rolls." She closed her eyes. "Black dials, the car was blue, it had this swooping body shape I really liked... number 86, painted in white, but we had to change it because someone else had that number, so we made the 6 into an 8 with colored tape... The seat was really hard."

"Your uncle." Jak said; he remembered her talking about it once in Haven. "He raced, you said you got to help work on the car sometimes."

"Yes..." She laughed now, her tension having left her in a moment of happy recollection, looking over to Jak and Daxter. "It's funny... I know I was a kid at some point, but remembering I was that small once is... weird."

"You're still kinda small, Loor." Dax pointed out. "I mean, the list of people shorter than Jak ain't that long, y'know?"

"Dax!" Jak snapped at the good-natured prod from his partner. "I'm not _that_ short."

"Jak..." Loor hated to take Daxter's side, but she couldn't help it. "I can count the people shorter than us on one hand... The ratio kinda points to the conclusion that we're small people."

"Ha!" Daxter laughed. "Foiled by a girlfriend, a best friend, _and_ science! You can't beat that!"

Jak growled slightly, settling back to strap in and get the new vehicle, the Dune Hopper, started up and ready to roll. "Not my fault..." He grumbled.

"Blame the manufacturer." Loor snickered, looking to the map display Kleiver had mentioned as the engine rolled over and all the gauges and indicator lights came to life, the map also flashing it's digital display a few times before clearing and figuring out where they were in the wasteland.

"Manufacturer?" Dax asked as Jak still pouted, trying to end the subject with silence. He was also looking at the map; it was similar to the previous one they'd seen in the Sand Shark. As Kleiver said, there was a red marker on the edge that pointed to a location somewhere to the south-west of them.

"Y'know." She laughed. "Parents. Who else you gonna blame for crappy genetics?"

Daxter made a face. "Oh jeez, twice in one day?" He asked, holding up his hand as if to quell the fact that Loor had even mentioned the idea of parents. The ottsel actually looked a little nervous as he glanced to Jak, who's pout had deepened to a full frown that cut into his face.

"I didn't know my parents; either of them." Jak said, his voice devoid of inflexion. "Now that I think about it... I didn't know anyone who was actually related to me by blood." He snorted, an old hurt showing on his face. Just how old, Loor didn't dare guess. The fact that even _Daxter_ expressed fear about the subject said something to the age of this grievance, and the severity.

Which really sucked because Loor had a great joke about his parents being midgets for all he knew. Still, she knew when such humor would be out of place. Now was obviously one of those times. Her first thought after the joke was to apologize, but she had no idea what she'd be saying sorry for. _'Sorry Jak, you don't have any family that you know of. That sucks. Sorry you didn't have anyone who loved you simply for existing during your earliest years, when it mattered the most.' _The very idea of saying sorry for such a thing struck her as nearly as offensive, if not more so, than the joke.

"You're still here." She said before her brain had even formed a full thought behind the words. "Someone had you, Jak... and whoever that someone is, they've got a lot to be proud of."

Daxter actually left Jak's shoulder to escape from the conversation, the look on his fuzzy mug expressing a total loss of hope for this going anywhere. Loor had no doubt Daxter had tried comforting Jak over this in the past as well; they were best friends. Still, she was too stubborn not to try. A particular focus came to her as she studied his face, searching for the smallest of reactions.

"Assuming they even remember I exist." He said glumly; the heart of the matter was exposed in such simple terms; the fear that he'd simple been forgotten about, lost, or, God forbid, rejected.

"You're not the type of guy someone forgets about." She batted back. "I'm sure that was just as true when you were little. Hell, I'd bet there's someone out there in the world, still looking for you."

"Your odds are shit." His voice was gruff. "You should pick your bets better."

"If I had a penny to my name, I'd lay all I had on it." She responded fiercely.

That seemed to give him pause; the mention of money, particularly pennies, made him tilt his head a little and then finally grace her with his gaze. With a strange stare, she noticed the fact that his expression had abandoned his frown for the moment, though it hadn't really morphed into anything else. The space of silence seemed oddly long, since she was pretty sure she hadn't said anything particularly meaningful besides expressing her confidence that he was far from forgotten. When he spoke, there was the smallest suggestion of humor; "Y'know, I still owe you thirteen cents..."

"Eh?" It was her turn to tilt her head, but for her it was in confusion. Daxter, who had been sitting behind Jak's head rest with this back turned on the conversation, twisted his head around to look. "Thirteen cents? For what?"

"The last bet I lost against you." Was his matter-of-fact answer.

So the number had been her idea? She snickered. "Alright then, let's put that IOU on the table; double or nothin'!"

* * *

><p><strong>The Author's Corner<strong>

Writing Jak's more emo moments is always interesting because I sometimes worry that I'm overdoing it... and other times I wonder if I'm not doing it hard enough. This time, I THINK I got it about right... meow.

I think.

Happy reading,

-Loor


	36. Discovery

**I do not own Jak and Daxter. Sorry!**

**Vacation or War-Endgame  
><strong>**Chapter Thirty Six-Discovery**

It turned out that the Dune Hopper was quite aptly named; the vehicle literally had the ability to jump, a spring-loaded lever next to the gear shift being the way to control it. This, of course, made the function of the harness-like seat-belts rather obvious; the worry wasn't rolling over, it was staying in the vehicle during the moments of zero-G while it was in the air.

Once that was figured out, it was decided that it was time to inspect the marker on the map. Jak got into gear and started driving where the dot on the edge led, keeping his eyes on the road while Dax and Loor informed him of upcoming terrain and which way was the right way to get around it, seeing as they had to pass through the mountains again. With the heat gaining on them as they drove and time passed, Loor began to feel a want for water that made her suspicions of Kleiver come back into her mind, but she kept it to herself while watching the map scroll along with their movement. Daxter had come to sit with her again, grabbing onto her seat belt whenever Jak decided to hit the jump lever for fun. Loor didn't blame him; getting air in this thing was exhilarating, mainly because it was also frightening. They were lucky it was such a calm day; if it were windy the vehicle would be too-easily rolled in the air, and there was a chance they'd come back down on their heads.

As she stared at the map, she noticed something that made her squint and question if she was reading it right. It looked like they were coming up on... the coastline; but the marker that was leading them was further out still, beyond what she could see in the current scope. What she could see were a series of islands; perhaps a delta broken up by a stream from an old spring, but that was assuming the spring had it's source somewhere further out to sea because she didn't see any indication of water on the mainland in this area. "Um..." She said, looking up to check what she saw on the map against the actual area around them, blinking as she stopped shading her eyes and was hit with full sunlight. She was tempted to put her goggles back down, but she'd kept them off while looking at the map display. Out in front of them was indeed the ocean, as well as a series of rocky islands that were just as tall as the mainland, some of them actually taller. Glancing between the real world and the display in the vehicle, she noted which islands were which and then, as she craned her neck higher, a great spire of rock that rose up beyond the islands. It was huge, like a tower rising up out of the ocean.

Checking once more, she pointed and announced the following conclusion. "That's our destination. I guess the islands lead out to it?"

"Good guess as any." Jak responded, not even questioning the path and lining up for the nearest island. Maybe this vehicle was programmed with this location on it's map because it was the only one that could get out to that rock and whatever was on it, Loor considered. "Man the lever?" Jak asked, his own hand occupied with the gear shift. It would probably be best to try and stick each landing by going back into neutral and stopping the wheels; there wasn't a lot of room for error on these dangerous steps. Loor nodded, putting her goggles over her eyes now and settling her own hand on the metal bar.

"You got it." She answered, putting her other hand over Daxter, since the ottsel had no way of strapping in. She felt kinda bad that he was left to simply cling. "Onward and upward."

"Let's hope so." Even with a bit of messing around before on the dunes, Jak sounded a bit tense. Hitting the water could be very dangerous; the harnesses they were both strapped into were not made for ease of use. Also, even if they did get free of the vehicle, who knew what kind of nasty creatures were out in this ocean?

"You're in command, just tell me when." She told him; Jak had good instincts for this sort of thing. On a set of simple signals she pulled the lever back when told as he accelerated towards the rocky edge of the coast and the first island along their path. The vehicle dropped in preparation to jump, getting close to the ground and the suspension going to shit; they felt every bump, rise, fall, and dip in the sand, rattled around like pills in a bottle. It was only a moment later that Jak told her to release, and the vehicle once again launched itself into the air.

Loor was to tense to allow herself a yell of exhilaration. She'd save that for when they had gotten out to their destination and back again. There were at least six more jumps between here and there. Each one, to Jak's credit, was done cleanly. Guy was a fast learner. On the other hand, Loor was helping, so maybe she was one too.

The rocky tower they were aiming for turned out to have a long path that was more than wide enough for the Dune Hopper to land and drive on; quickly taking a steep incline to start going up the craggy pillar. Loor had to wonder if this was natural or man-made; she assumed man-made; she's still seen no sign of the water-based erosion that would cause this type of groove in a rock, and the sides of the path were nearly square with the rock wall to the inside. Nature didn't do squares. The first sign of water they _did_ see was nearly at the end of the path; the uphill angle they were traveling at as well as the slight curve the path took around this mountain almost hid it from sight before they were right on it, but the sound warned them before then; a waterfall was pounding its way down the side of the spire, a straight-down drop carved through the road and mist creating a rainbow in the gap.

Jak stopped the vehicle, the trio staring up at the thing. Loor, without saying a word, actually got out of the vehicle to approach the edge of the hole the rushing water punched; they were on the side of the spire facing away from the mainland, thus why they hadn't seen the fall from there. Daxter, who had been on her lap, moved to her shoulder and clung to her leather armor. Getting close to the edge actually made her a bit nervous; a step too far and a slip on the sandy ground and the falls would obliterate her long before she actually hit the water below. Getting down to her knees and then lying on her belly, Daxter draped across her back, she reached out to catch some of the droplets that misted away from the main flow, bringing them back to her lips. The taste of clean fresh water was unmistakable. Getting up again and backing away from the edge, she turned to Jak.

"It's a fresh-water spring." She reported, coming back to him. "Good to drink, assuming we can find a good place to catch some."

"You were worried?" Jak chuckled.

"Weren't you?" She found herself grinning back as she climbed back up into the vehicle. "Excuse me but I like to know where my resources are. I'm curious about what's up here, but if there'd been no water I would probably say turn back and explore another day."

"Assuming your pride let you." Daxter tossed in as Jak got back in gear, lining up to jump this gap like they had all the others. "If we showed back up at the city so soon, Kleiver would have words for us."

"So?" Loor snapped, ready to pull the lever at Jak's say-so. "Kleiver can have all the words he likes; some things aren't worth pride."

"That's new..." The ottsel muttered, hunkering down on Loor's shoulder instead of going back to her lap for the last jump; it went just as well as all the others, though their landing area was closed on both sides; a sheer-faced canyon that they only narrowly missed the outside wall of.

Loor had a response to Daxter's comment forming in her head, but she forgot it when she looked on to the next part of this adventure; things were getting interesting. Giant columns of stone stood in their way, supporting crossbeams of the same rock that stretched from wall-to-wall of the canyon. The three of them could easily pass through on foot, but they'd have to leave the vehicle here in order to keep going. Also, between these columns on raised platforms were great braziers that burned brightly; a sign of habitation. Someone was keeping them fed and lit.

"Fire and water." Loor noted out loud. "Is someone living out on this rock?"

"Heck of a high place to call home." Daxter muttered as Jak set the brake and killed the engine; it was time to start walking.

"No, there's more ceremony to it..." Loor looked up at the stone pillars as she and Jak got out and started moving, passing under them and turning to walk backwards and continue scrutiny of them. "More like a Hermitage; a temple or a retreat."

"I'm guessing temple." Jak said as Daxter left Loor's shoulder, going back to his usual spot with Jak. Loor was about to ask why, but she bumped into Jak first; he'd stopped in the clear circular area beyond the pillars to look off to the right. Turning to look, she stared to see there was something set into the rock wall; a door. It soared up to an excessive height as well as a elegant point, but the interesting part wasn't the door itself.

It was the fact that it was made of bronze, and had a figure that was layered upon it to stick out as a 3-D image. The shapes made little sense by themselves, but Loor got the sense that she'd seen such a shape before. It was tall, with distinction enough to tell an upright body from a head. The body looked human enough, curved shoulders and the impression elbows bent to fold one's hands behind one's back. Lines and layers eventually translated into the idea that the figure was wearing a robe of some kind, obscuring any definition of legs or feet. The head, on the other hand, as a strange and long shape that Loor would identify with a mutilated ship's anchor before she likened it to someone's cranium.

The bronze, though tarnished, retained a particular shade and shine that made Loor amend her analysis with a distinction; _precursor _bronze; the same type that the eco crystals they'd gotten a hold of were cased in.

Such a thing being here meant Jak was right; they'd come upon a precursor temple; one of the places were the people worshiped the precursors as otherworldly gods.

"Hell..." She muttered. "This just got interesting."

"Fuck yes." Jak grinned, stepping forward without questioning, jogging through the empty circle of sandy ground to approach the door. As with many precursor things, it moved of its own accord once the group was close enough. As always, such things made Loor's brain itch. She wanted to dig into the wall and find the door's inner workings to figure out how it did what it did. The precursors, though she didn't quite buy into the 'god' image, were certainly advanced to the point that what they did _seemed_ like godly miracles and magic.

Beyond the doors was a massive open cylinder carved into the top of the mountain; the walls stretched all the way up to the top, with openings and crumbled ledges at all levels suggesting that there used to be floors where the open sky now beamed down on them. Still maintained were balconies at various levels, lit with torches and giving further suggestions of human habitation. The ground level was paved with large flat stones of irregular shapes pressed into the sand, and what pieces of the place that were not cared for were cracked and falling apart.

The first thing she noticed before even taking in the rest of the room was a warp ring, off to the right and not too far from the door they'd just come through. She stepped to reach out and touch it; it was also formed from precursor bronze and was smooth to the touch; without dust. Still, it was decidedly deactivated. Possibly even broken, she considered. An active warp-ring would have what looked like a suspended sheet of water within, gently rippling from the center and energy glowing blue on the inside of the rim. This one was dark, and nothing but air existed within the ring itself.

A tingle of excitement ran through her as she looked around; it felt like they'd found some lost place at the end of the world, and the newness of it made her want to run around and brush her hands on every stone, to adsorb it through every sense availability. Still, a particular caution had to be maintained, so she walked in step with Jak as they moved for the exact middle of the circular space. There were more stone bowls filled with wood and burning, providing light all along the edges of this place and making it feel even more old and mystic. There was a door straight ahead, but there was something more than a little odd about it. At first she thought she was seeing things, but there appeared to be the ghostly image of some kind of eye in the recess the door was tucked into, floating there without means of support nor projection of the image. The creepy part; it was watching them with undivided interest. The eye itself was white, but a black pupil was focused on the trouble trio.

"The... fuck?" Loor asked; this thing wasn't computing with her. She looked to the door it hung over, and then the floor of the recess to notice a grid of holes in the stone floor. "This some precursor shit?"

"Nothing I've seen before." Jak admitted, going closer to inspect.

"Me neither." Daxter agreed, staring up at the eye as it continued to track them while they got closer to the door. "Kinda freaky though..."

"Kinda?" Loor frowned at Daxter. "More than kinda; Dax. Where is that light coming from?"

"Maybe it's something alive?" Jak posited, since Loor was obviously not finding any answers in technology. "I mean... it_ is_ watching us. It could be some kind of precursor watch-dog."

"It's an eyeball." Loor's tone was deadpan as they were nearly upon the recess in the wall. "What's it gonna do, cry on us?"

"Whoa, whoa, guys, stop!" Daxter suddenly shouted, and not a moment too soon; the eye suddenly widened, the pupil expanding to become nearly the whole mass. With a grinding noise that almost went unnoticed with the discussion being held, stone spikes shot up from the holes in the floor, deadly sharp, nearly as long as Jak was tall, and all pointing to the sky.

"Yikes!" Loor jumped back, one hand flying to grab the weapon on her back. She didn't draw it, just staring at the spikes that would have impaled the three of them if Daxter hadn't yelled.

"Nice booby trap." Daxter snickered, despite the situation. Jak took a step back as well, looking up at the eye with a frown at it relaxed and, in turn, the spikes retracted back into the floor. A quick judgment of distance said the area of pain and injury was too long to attempt jumping over, and the spikes were too close together to try and squeeze through.

Loor, feeling proactive, pulled out her pistol instead of her stave and drew a bead on the eye. Not even warning Jak, she fired. He rounded in surprise, and then looked back at the eye to see if it had any effect; it didn't. The eye might as well have been a ghost; it didn't care about the yellow eco slug that had just gone through the space it occupied, the squashed bullet hitting the ceiling and falling to the floor by the door they were trying to get to. Sighing, Loor shrugged and put the gun away. "Well, there was my idea. You guys got anything?"

Jak shrugged, but Daxter was looking around still. He pointed off to their left, sighting something. "What's that?"

The question caused all eyes to turn; there was another recess on that side of the wall, though it was much smaller and held an object, not a door. Perhaps a foot tall and two feet off of the ground, the space in the wall held some kind of statuette that seemed out of place. It was... black. Moving for it with a new caution imparted by what had just happened with the strange white eye, Jak and Loor went to give it a closer look.

"Looks like a little precursor statue." Jak said, frowning at the figurine as they stepped close enough to touch it. "Only... evil." He added, reaching out to gingerly tap the thing. At first it looked to Loor to be carved out of a shiny black stone, like obsidian, but she realized that the statue had more gem-like facets. As Jak said, it looked to be a similar shape as the figure she'd seen on the door, only a free-standing statue instead of layers on a door creating the illusion of three dimensions. A somewhat human-like body in a sitting position, hands folded into the lap, and the strange head with great circular eyes. Staring hard at it, she was sure she'd seen this material somewhere before.

It hit her after a moment. "This is like... some kind of crystal?" She asked.

"Yeah, like a chunk of a dark eco crystal." Jak agreed. "But this one doesn't have any charge... That's funny, I've never actually heard of a dark eco crystal losing power... not without exploding."

Loor reached out to touch it herself, fingers sliding along the smooth surface and following the carved lines of the shape to the parts that were not like the figure they'd seen on the door; spikes that stuck up from the back of the figure, a twisted halo formed around the thing's head, all of it made out of the same black material. As she traced her finger along it, a feeling ran through her. A shudder; her hair standing up on end. "I... I don't think it's out of power." She said, laying her full palm on it. "It's just... dormant?" She wasn't even sure what she was feeling or saying; her body was reacting as if there was some eco power in the stone, but she couldn't feel an actual spark. Finally, she gave up and backed away from the thing. "Alright, so we got an evil-looking precursor statue, a warp gate that doesn't appear to be powered, and a door we can't get to. Dead ends all around, huh?" She huffed. "Disappointing... and I'm betting the source of the spring is somewhere inside this place, so even though there's water we can't get to it."

"Does that mean we're going back?" Daxter asked, sounding somewhat hopeful. Apparently this place was beginning to bother him.

Jak shook his head, determination coming over his face. "Not yet. There's _gotta_ be something here..." He looked around; without a way through the door, he was looking for things less obvious... and he found it. The wall across from the statue, the only wall without something of note, seemed to catch his eye. Loor turned as he started moving to it, aqua eyes seeming to trace an invisible line up.

She looked, but she wasn't sure what he was seeing. It was just a crumbled wall with the remains of floors that didn't exist anymore; doorways and stairs that snaked behind the walls, and posts that stuck out to support stone that was no longer there. Still, she followed him. "Jak, what are you thinking?"

"Hey Loor... do you remember?" He asked, looking at her with a smile forming on his face.

She gave him a glare. That was more than a loaded question.

It didn't dampen his sudden good mood. "You're a hell of a climber, y'know."

Daxter did a double take at his partner. "You want to _climb_ this? Why?!"

"Something might be up there!" Jak defended, pointing to the top of the walls. "This area is too small to be the whole top of the mountain; there's probably a plateau up there, and maybe another way in."

Loor's eyes were looking at the wall again with what Jak had in mind. He was right; assuming the thicker leftovers from various ledges and fixtures were safe, there was certainly a path up... if not several. She was staring to smile in the same way that he was.

"Oh no!" Daxter whined, seeing this. "Loor, please don't tell me you're this nuts?!"

"What's your problem, Dax?" Loor grinned at the ottsel. "You got claws; you're probably the best climber of the three of us."

"Yeah, but if you two fall, how am _I_ gonna get back to the city?" He demanded.

"We're not gonna fall." Loor said cockily. "This is gonna be like climbing a ladder."

"_Right."_ Daxter sunk down a bit on Jak's shoulder, making sure he was secure.

"Jeez, Dax." Jak was snickering. "If I didn't know better, I'd say you had a problem with heights."

"Then you don't know better." The ottsel muttered. "Everything is taller when you're so small. You should try it sometime; you'd have a problem with heights too."

* * *

><p><strong>The Author's Corner<strong>

NEW CHAPTER! YARG! Ah, the whole thing with the lizards was a bit of a hump, and granted all of this 'process' stuff is too, but I'm glad we're still moving. It's my personal head-canon that Daxter has issues with high places, thus why he's not big on flying, but that's just me being crazy.

Happy reading!

-Loor


	37. Taking The Dive

**This Mighty Glacier is still moving, and I still don't fucking own it peeps. :D**

**Vacation or War-Endgame  
><strong>**Chapter Thirty Seven-Taking the Dive**

Getting to the top of the temple was actually easier than Loor thought it was going to be. She'd foreseen some difficulty because she suspected at some point she was going to have a fear reaction to how high they were off of the ground... but she actually found herself quite excited and entertained. It seemed heights didn't bother her... not like they bothered Daxter, anyway. The ottsel was clinging to Jak the whole way up, letting off little whimpers every time a piece of stone slipped loose from a ledge or a bit of sand shifted down.

The top, as Jak expected, was a flat circle around the hole they'd just crawled out of. Loor, who had ended up in the lead because Jak insisted on putting himself under her, scrambled up and offered a hand to him in order to make the last push easy once she had her footing. Everyone at the top and in one piece, each of them took their time to notice different things about their position. The first thing Loor took note of was the view of the mainland; they were high enough to see an incredible distance over the wasteland, blocked by only the tallest of peaks in the mountain chains. Then, focusing her eyes a little closer and off to the left, she noted there was indeed a trap door of sorts set into the flat top of this place. Interested in finding water, she moved away from Jak to inspect the heavy wooden hatch. Sadly, there was no handle, and it wouldn't budge even when she managed to worm her fingers into the seam along the edge; she suspected it of being locked from the inside. With enough force, she guessed, it could be crushed...

"Oooh, sweet!"

She turned, seeing that Jak and Daxter had looked to the other side, Daxter sounding quite impressed. Sharing their lofty position were several... gliders, made from wood and canvas. "Flying machines on top of a precursor temple... Someone trying to get to a high place across the desert without climbing a mountain?"

"Seem said they lost an expedition of monks on the volcano." Jak answered with a shrug as Daxter jumped down to get a closer look; there were two complete gliders, a third one in pieces. They were actually quite complex, made to be stood upon instead of hung below, with a free-floating yoke connecting to handlebars for control. There were no straps, instead hooked bars around calf and thigh level that a rider could press their legs into during launch to act as anchoring to the device. Despite the primitive materials, the monks clearly had some mechanical mastery. "I bet they built these gliders to reach the top."

"How far off is that?" Loor asked, stepping closer to the gliders and, in turn, the far edge, to squint across the wasteland as it laid out before them. "Last I checked, none of us have been bothering to study a lot of maps..."

"Don't need to." Jak responded, taking her shoulder and pointing out something. She squinted further, briefly frustrated when she didn't see whatever the hell he was trying to get her to see. The sky was bright, clear, and very blue... with a faint glint of floating gold. She blinked, sure her eyes were tricking her, but it was still there. "Accelerator rings." Jak said when he saw the look on her face change from irritation to curiosity.

"Hey, did we forget 'lost' was the operative word in what Seem told us?" Daxter called, his voice showing that he disliked where this conversation was going. "If they vanished, don't ya think that was a sign?"

Both Loor and Jak went to inspect the two intact gliders.

"Hello!?" Daxter had growing dismay. His friends looked just a little too stoked.

"The monks already have a path laid out." Loor pointed out with a smirk, looking over the edge. Again, where one should have been naturally afraid of heights, she found herself quite excited. Sure, it was a hell of a drop, but the idea of being able to fly over that expanse of ocean, and soar across the desert... "Accelerator rings... Jak, you've used them before, haven't you? They use air pressure... last time it was for a zoomer race, but the same principle would work just as well to maintain lift and altitude over a long distance."

"Yeah." Jak agreed, smiling for more reason than one. "C'mon Dax, you got me! All we gotta do is hit those rings, and we're golden."

"Oh no!" Daxter protested. "See any feathers here?" He asked, indicating his fuzzy forelimbs. "Looks like fury to me! No feathers, no flya-da-ottsel! There is _no way_ you're getting me on some precursor monk crap!" He turned his back on Jak and Loor, still making gestures with his hands to emphasize. "Absolutely zippo chance! Forget it! Finito! Fat chance! Not gonna happen! _Nope!_ Nu-uh! Never!"

Loor found herself trading glances with Jak as Daxter rambled on, reiterating his refusal. Mischief was clearly expressed in Jak's eyes. Loor started pushing one of the gliders towards the edge as Jak bent to deal with his reluctant partner.

"_What the-_ Jak, what are you-?! HEY! Not fair, t-that's- Jak, my scruff- That _tickles! _Hehehehe...! N-no fair, did Tess tell you about that?"

"Loor, think you can handle being in the lead?" Jak asked from behind; she dare not look, she was sure she'd bust out laughing if she saw Daxter in his current condition... and the ottsel would be upset enough once they were airborne.

"Oh hell yes." She grinned, at the edge. "Dead already, y'know? Might as well have a little fun."

"Wait, no, Jak, this _isn't fair!" _

"See ya on the other side!" Loor called, lining up with the edge and the glint in the sky that Jak had pointed out to her. Her heart was beating in her throat; she almost couldn't believe the rush going through her. Something in her body demanded sanity, demanded she stop in her tracks and run from the edge... but the thrill she got from defying it was so great she had to yell out loud in the pleasure of the moment. Shoving the glider over the cliff and stepping onto the platform as it went over, she seized the handles and found herself facing the ocean.

The last time Loor had experienced zero G, it had been staring down at the invasion of Haven city while the palace fell. She had a heart-stopping moment of terror as she leapt from the falling building, bound for a too-close-for-comfort rescue. That moment had been seconds, perhaps less, where her weight had left her and she'd been free in the air.

Here she was again. She stared down, this time at the crash of a beautiful ocean at the end of a hostile world. Her breath left her as her hair was blown back and she regretted not pulling down her goggles before the plunge. An overwhelming feeling hit her, one that made her want to open her hands, spread her arms, and somehow attain flight upon her own power. For that moment, it felt as if she could.

"_JAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAK!" _

Daxter's screeching call from the top of the spire alerted to her much more mortal and rather flightless status. The ocean was getting closer a lot faster than she liked, and she fumbled to bend her knees and get her legs inside the hooked restraints, pulling back on the yoke and once again whooping from the adrenaline rush as her craft not only evened out, but pulled up, facing back towards the sky.

Taking a daring moment with one hand to yank her goggles down over her eyes, finding both her balance and smooth air, she focused again on where Jak had pointed.

The monks had left a path... perhaps not for them, but they would follow it.

The question was, what would they find?

* * *

><p>To say crash landings were unkind would be the greatest understatement of all time.<p>

Loor had been unprepared for the abrupt end of her ride on the winds of the wasteland; the accelerator rings had led her and Jak clear across the whole island, giving them an areal view of all there was to see, including Spargus itself. The final rings led to an approach of a mountain that had to be the great volcano Seem mentioned, as well as a hole that was hardly wide enough for the wingtips of the glider. One moment she'd been flying with nothing but elation on her mind. The next, she'd panicked and leaned too far in trying to adjust her approach. She passed into the opening, but she felt it through the whole craft when her wing caught on the wall and, after a moment of bending under the stress, snapped.

She was spinning, letting out a yelp as she tried to bail from the fragile vehicle only to get caught on the hooks that had kept her in for the whole trip over. Abandoning the controls, she ducked and covered her head.

Several sharp shocks, the awareness that her back had kissed the ground, sliding... and then a sudden drop. She curled tighter, trying to think of the dimensions of the cockpit of the craft, if it could even be called that. Tight enough, she'd be contained within the space and the skeleton of the glider would take most of the impact, assuming it was a solid landing-

It was.

There was an additional shock, changing the direction of her spin and possibly saving her skin. The craft landed on the wing she'd broken during entry, crushing the wooden poles further and adsorbing the shock before her weight caused the craft to land with her back to a stoney ground. Already ducked with her head between her knees, her shoulders took the impact. She felt as if the shape of her stave had been imprinted onto her bones. Still, in the moments after hitting the ground, she wiggled her fingers and toes. Everything was still attached. She was in one piece.

Jak and Daxter were right behind her, Dax screaming the whole way. She was still under the wreckage of her glider; hardly trapped, the thing was light. Perhaps it was shock, but she didn't feel like moving just yet. Either way, she didn't see Jak's entrance... but she did hear it. The distinct _crunch_ of his glider hitting a stone wall at full speed.

"Jak!" She shouted, eyes coming open and suddenly trying to free her legs with urgency. The space beyond their entrance must have been extremely small; if Jak was hurt-

She grunted when her wreck was jostled; Jak's glider had hit the ground near her. She pulled her head out of its tucked position, looking up. It was dim, but she could see the vehicle. It was... empty.

She heard the light landing of feet beyond her, where she couldn't see as long as her legs were still stuck in the restraints. She suddenly felt very embarrassed for calling out in such a panic.

"Not one for seat belts, huh?" She asked, trying to mask that embarrassment by being glib.

"You're not doing anything to make me a believer." Jak pointed out, his voice getting closer and coming around to where she was finding herself quite stuck. She was actually shaking, and it was making getting free a chore. "You okay?" He asked, reaching in to help her without asking.

"Yeah, all in one piece... no getting out the way we came though, huh?" She knew better to fight him, pushing herself up on her elbows and simply getting her head out of the way as he got her loose and kicked the wreck off of her. Looking around, it seemed as if they had arrived in a place that was little more than a dark crevice, though light did come in through the tunnel they'd used as an entrance, as well as a faint orange glow from beyond. Though she had trouble believing it, it was even hotter in here than it was outside.

Man's influence was shown by a few wooden supports in the ceiling; someone had carved out this space.

Also, Daxter was hanging from one of these wooden struts. He must have grabbed on when Jak bailed from his glider.

"Yeah." Jak nodded, not seeming to be aware of the status of his partner. "Gotta check it out now; and look for another way out."

"Right behind ya, partners!" Daxter yelled, strain sounding in his voice. Jak looked up, blinking at the ottsel and trying not to laugh. "Far behind ya!" He added.

"Ah, c'mon Dax." Loor's laugh sounded more than a little hysterical as she got up; her knees shook with the shock that was still going through her body. She was actually amazed she was in one piece. "Ain't that far; one of us can catch you, just take the hop."

"You sure you're alright?" Jak asked; she was leaning on the wall for support as she levered herself upright.

"Shook up." She assured, looking around with interest. The crevice had another exit; at one end was the orange glow she'd seen before, but at the other end, up a few rough steps of black stone, a dimmer blue-white glow reflected off of the narrow way and made vivid shadows.

"This is just great..." Daxter muttered. "You two crazies get us here, and now we don't got a way back out."

"We'll find one." Jak assured, still sounding too entertained with his partner's precarious position. "Jump down, Dax. I gotcha."

"Right!" The ottsel snorted back. "Sorry, but I don't feel like you're worth trusting right now."

Loor rolled her eyes, mastering her feet enough to get away from the wall to investigate the blue-white light while Jak and Daxter bickered over how the ottsel was going to get down. Stepping carefully, she ascended the steps and came around the corner to witness a most interesting sight.

Another phantom eye; just like the one back at the temple, it floated mid-air and at once focused on her when she came around the corner. There was a clear difference though; this one was guarding an active warp-ring, not a door. Aside from that, the set-up was exactly the same; the ring was set into a groove in the wall just large enough for it, the floor around it covered in a stone grid that was sure to contain the same spikes that had deterred her and Jak from messing with the door back at the temple.

_Good fucking Christ it's warm in here. _She found herself thinking absently during her investigation, picking up the edge of her scarf to wipe her face and finally pushing her goggles back up to hold her hair back as well as the sweat that was beginning to bead on her forehead. Water was going to be very important at this rate; they needed to get back to the city, or back to the temple and find a way in.

Seeing nothing else of note in the shadows, and unwilling to run her hands along the walls to search at the moment, she turned around once more. Getting back to the main crevice led her back to the boys; Daxter had gotten down and back to Jak's shoulder, though the ottsel looked less than happy about it. "Hey, guys... I think I might've found a way back out, but it's guarded by another one of those eye-things."

"Damn." Jak looked when Loor indicated with one hand, and then looked the other way; where the orange glow was coming from. "If we could find a way to trick it, or just break it..."

"I could make a dumb suggestion, if worst comes to worst." Loor said as they began to move for the orange light. "Enough brute force, we could destroy the spikes that come up from the floor... assuming we could get particular _factors_ to co-operate." She looked to Jak, assuming he knew exactly what she was suggesting.

Jak nodded in return. "Let's see if we can find another way first..." He said, gesturing onwards. The crevice that had been their landing zone opened up into a cavern that was lit by what seemed to be an omnipresent orange light, black rocks giving way to what seemed to be fairly dense soil that clung to edges of stone. Sheer walls on three sides, the only way forward was to climb the more staggered forth side, rising up into the main cavern.

The heat grew worse, and Loor knew exactly why when she reached the top of the rocks. Seem had mentioned that the place she'd lost her monks was the 'Great Volcano', but she hadn't thought about the possibility of actually seeing the active heart of such a creature. The dim orange light came up, reflected off of glassy-smooth walls of a shaft that extended an incredible distance below them. That same shaft also acted as a conductor for the heat that rose up off of a mass of white-hot magma below. "Holy hell..." She muttered, looking over the edge of the rocky over-look they had. A ridge continued on before her, but she was preoccupied with what was below for the moment.

"Heck of a fall, huh toots?" Daxter asked, getting some of his bounce back as he and Jak arrived at the same place; looking over the side.

"Yeah, but the heat and gas would kill you long before you got to the bottom." She responded; odd memories shaken loose as she stood in the heat. She knew, a long time ago, she'd been fascinated with the natural world and all the things it did. Volcanoes, earthquakes, storms... natural disasters of all kinds. She wasn't sure exactly how long ago it had been... but she remembered big books gripped by little hands, and the glossy texture of the pages.

"We're following the same path those monks took." She muttered absently, tearing her gaze away from the magma pool below and focusing her attention forward again. "Looking for that crashed satellite... think Seem'll thank us for finding out why her search party vanished?"

"I doubt it." Dax huffed. "On the other hand, I don't think I'm too keen on telling her we've been mussing around her things."

"Let's move." Jak started walking. "We gotta find something before the heat does us in."

The journey through the volcano was made a challenge by multiple things, not least of which was the simple effects of the heat and what Loor noted to be somewhat bad air. It was still good enough to breathe, but the longer they stayed the more she noticed a pain in her nose and inefficiency of her lungs. Running up inclines of rock and volcanic soil, finding their way around stoney passes, and avoiding places were the magma had been pushed up further than the main pool below; she was breathing hard and thinking of the wasteland in a much more kindly way.

And, as if to top it all off, they found this place wasn't uninhabited.

Loor's sense hit her before Jak; the sparks that liked to dance across her nerves when there was eco somewhere in the area. Her reaction was purely instinctual, looking around with an intense and scrutinizing gaze that quickly appraised their current location; a platform of rock several yards wide and long. It didn't seem like there was anywhere for anything to hide, but she knew the sense too well to doubt it; there were metal-heads nearby.

Daxter tensed, ducking down while both Jak and Loor drew their weapons free. "Here?" The ottsel whined.

"Seems like they can live anywhere..." Loor muttered, her sweep of the ground failing to yield anything and turning her eyes up higher. She could _feel _them; there had to be a number of them, all moving around and keeping her from figuring out just where they were. Looking up didn't feel right to her, but she hadn't seen anything below-

"Loor!"

The shout shocked her forward, whipping around with her stave in one hand, pistol in the other. Jak had already fired at the creature, but missed as it finished digging itself out of the ground and leapt for the cavern wall, clinging with a hooked forelimb and jumping again before Loor could stare at it for too long. A metal head, she had no doubt, and fast to boot.

Jak was already aiming at the creature, firing several times as Loor turned around again, realizing their adversaries were under the ground and digging up to meet them. She decided the pistol wasn't worth it; if Jak had trouble hitting them, she didn't stand a chance. Holstering the gun, she took her stave in both hands and dove forward when she saw the ground shifting in another spot; aiming to drive the hooked blade into the dirt before the creature could even emerge.

That worked for the one she was aiming at, but there were three others coming up at the same time, and those were just the ones she could see.

One of the ones she didn't see landed on her back.

* * *

><p><strong>The Author's Corner<strong>

HI EVERYONE. :D

Man, this story moves slow, I update slow... uuugh... Just gotta keep moving. The good bits are coming.

Either way, as always I love you all. Thanks for reading.

-Loor


	38. Roundabout

… **Just now realized that the last chapter is technically a cliff-hanger... Haha, silly me, ending a chapter right as a fight's starting. If I didn't know better, I'd say I'm a really mean human being who takes pleasure in making people suffer and- OH WAIT. THAT'S RIGHT. I'M THE FUCKING AUTHOR. IT'S MY JOB TO BE SO MEAN I COULD BE CONSIDERED SUB-HUMAN.**

**I still don't own Jak, peoples.**

**ONWARD! **

**Vacation or War-Endgame  
><strong>**Chapter Thirty Eight-Roundabout**

There was something to be said for how Loor felt when she didn't have any eco in her system. There was the general lethargy she experienced while her levels were low, as well as the ever constant sickness that grew stronger with every day she continued to live, but there was one more item to take into account when thinking about how it 'felt' to be her without the poison that was slowly killing her.

Venerable.

The opposite was equally true; when carrying a full charge she felt strong, confident, and more than a few times she had shown brash behavior simply because she felt bad-ass enough to back it up. Now, however, was a moment of weakness. Reptilian skin and claws hit her back, digging onto the leather pads on her shoulders and blade-like appendages raising to take a shot at her head, and where a natural fear-reaction would have opened the gates for Lyra, it only left her open for the hit for that crucial half-second.

Ducking her head, she lifted her stave and gave it a spin that was powered with both hands, turning and shouting with the motion. There was a stiff impact; she'd made a strike that knocked the creature off of her; now she or Jak just had to get it before it got back up again. The shout was unnecessary; Jak was already aiming and shooting with the blaster the moment his shot was clear. "Face forward!" He ordered her, backing off to open space between them and turn the area into a firing range. Usually Loor would not want to be in front of him, but she wasn't that scared of friendly fire right now; there had to be a dozen of these little things leaping around now, screeching as Jak tried to pick his targets quickly while they clung to the walls or sailed through the air.

With him looking up, it was her job to take ground control and stay low. Forgetting the creature that had nearly taken her head off only seconds ago, she started backing off to the other side of the space, watching for another kamikaze run. A few of them _tried_ throwing themselves at Jak, but his reflexes had him taking them out in the air and side-stepping the lifeless bodies as they crashed to the ground, rolling some distance with a final squall of pain. The remainder wised up, turning their attack back on Loor where she crouched down low with her bladed weapon, perchance assuming they'd have better luck with her.

Loor grinned as the first one came flying in; getting a better look at it. The size of a dog, it was a lizard of various drab blue-gray tones with little bones and a thin body, overlaid with muscles in its hind legs for making the incredible leaps across space that had been helping it, as well as others of its kind, to evade Jak's shots. Its forelimbs were hooked things that must have helped when clinging to walls, also making perfectly good weapons; the ends were hardened with a dangerous-looking edge. The head, though small, bore the tell-tale yellow of a skull gem. This one had thrown itself straight at Loor, mouth open to reveal plenty of little teeth, screeching out hostile intent.

Lining up, she swung her weapon upwards, the hook aimed to impale the creature's wiry torso, sliding her hands along the rod as if it were a sledgehammer and slamming the living burden into the ground after indulging a full swing over her head to gather speed and force. The body slid off as she lifted it up again, the next target already incoming and leaving her to take a sideways slash at it, wounding the creature while throwing it off of its path at her face. Now she drew her pistol again, pumping two shots into the hurt metal head while seeking the next possible baddie in the air. Sure enough, two more were coming, proving that metal heads didn't know how to take a hint.

In a snap decision, she dropped her stave and took a forward roll on her shoulder, dodging out of the way of the incoming living missals and facing the place she'd just been a moment ago as they landed. One was tense, ready to jump right back up again, the other turning to where she moved. She fired several times, aiming first for the one that was trying to escape. Three, four, five shots just to make sure-

The other one had jumped, it was just a little hop for it to get to her, the speed of the attack causing a moment of fear that made her forget about aiming and just pointing the pistol, holding it in both hands while emptying the clip.

She hit it. She knew she hit it. That didn't stop it from landing on her, the impact throwing her to be flat on her back, but the creature failing to stop itself and thrashing as it hit and bounced off of her, scrabbling and squealing as it bled from several wounds. She rolled over, up to her knees and ready to get up to her feet as she spared an extra glance to the dying metal head to make sure it didn't have one more jump in it, and then turning her head up.

Was it over?

Mere moments had gone by, but Jak had made short work of most of the creatures, and she'd taken down a handful herself. After all the squealing and screeching, the volcanic cavern was eerily silent. Loor took an extra moment, glancing around with wide eyes to make sure there was no more movement... before letting out a breath. Shoving her pistol back into its holster, she moved to retrieve her stave and properly sheath it as well. "Well, here's one guess on why we haven't found any bodies, yet." She said, kneeling next to one of her kills.

"Loor!" Daxter yelped, sounding grossed out. "That's terrible!"

"It's a good point." Jak said. "It sounded like several monks came here and vanished, and we haven't seen a sign of any of them."

"Well... okay, yeah, but you don't have to talk about the icky parts!" The ottsel shuddered. "Euch..."

Loor wasn't paying attention to the boys, focused as she usually was on the act of absorption. Like Daxter, she shuddered, but not with disgust. No, pleasure and pain ran through her as she joyed in the intense sensation more than she usually did, realizing only after her body had equalized again that she was biting her lip against a pleased groan. Even then, she didn't ponder or look up in fear of awkward reactions, she was already moving on to the next corpse to indulge further. It didn't matter if it hurt as much as it pleased her; the sensation was intoxicating.

It had been a day. Somewhat less than a day, actually, since she'd indulged in the transformation at the arena. Her body had been drained to dregs and Lyra left in stasis, but it was with this new supply that Loor realized just how weak she'd been feeling. The energy crackled between her fingers as she drew it out of the blood of the metal heads, the awareness that was Lyra returning and uncoiling from within her head to stretch and purr at the rush. On some mild curiosity, she looked up at Jak.

He was still standing at the ready, eyes up and alert. He wasn't bothering. Of course not; he was probably still riding a full charge. Only she got to let loose during the last fight at the arena.

Why was _she_ so intent? Without thinking about it she'd moved on to yet another corpse, but she stopped herself before she crouched down. She felt strong again; she didn't need any more.

_**It's there. Why waste it? **_

There was more to the thought than words; a compulsion to continue doing what she was doing, a desire to bend her knees and drain all the energy she could in service to Lyra's will. It would be rather easy, wouldn't it? Easier than resisting; she could feel that. As she stood firm without moving, a pressure built up in her head. It was like a pocket in her skull that was just uncomfortable enough to be considered painful, but not enough to take the center of her attention and be actively ignored. Annoying was one word for it, but that didn't seem forceful enough.

_We're sick because of this stuff. Because of you._ Her argument was cold, but it was all things she'd said before. These arguments had no meaning, not to either of them. _I haven't quit yet. _

"Looks like you took a tag there, sweets."

Her head lifted again, looking up to the boys and broken free from Lyra's pushing. The sense in her head was still there, but she was given something else to pay attention to. "Huh?" She asked, blinking a few times as she registered what Daxter had said to her.

"Ya got a cut on your face." The ottsel reiterated, indicating with a motion at his own cheek that got her to touch her face and find a small amount of blood on her fingertips. As Dax said, it as just a tag, a little cut, but she hadn't even known she'd gotten it. It could have been either the metal head that had landed on her back, or the one that had bounced over her chest.

"Huh... no biggy." She shrugged while wiping the blood off on her shirt. "Just a scratch, I didn't even feel it."

"You ready to move?" Jak asked, seeming to notice she'd stalled out over one of the metal heads and drawing his own, likely correct, conclusions.

_**No. I need it. There's not enough, yet. **_

"Y-yeah." She forced herself to say, moving to join them. "Let's go."

The pressure in her skull grew more intense, a flare of rage exploding as the animal's yowl rung in her ears. There was no way it could have _not_ bothered Loor, reminded of the last time she and Lyra had come into conflict. Even as she felt a faint pride in resisting, anxiety was gathering.

Steps behind the boys, Jak turning to continue on, she muttered to reassure herself.

"I'm not you. I'm not here for you. This body, this life, is _mine." _

She wanted to scream.

* * *

><p>They had found one of the missing monks.<p>

The trek through the volcano, heading on meandering paths of rock and finding more and more vegetation as they traveled, had led them to a path that was best described as disturbing. The vegetation had actually been a good sign, supporting one of Loor's theories; that there _had_ to be another opening in the mountain. And, indeed, she was quite right; a jagged area far above that let in sunlight and, relatively speaking, cool fresh air. Not exactly an escape route, but she'd been happy enough to be right about something at the moment.

Then, just as she was getting used to seeing bushy patches of long grass and more and more moss on the stones, things changed. Faintly green grasses that had been appearing along their path were replaced with dark, almost back, spiky growths of similar size. Moss and lichen had gone the same way, looking like spills of living oil on the rocks. Further above them, as their path turned steep against a rock wall and made several switch-backs, something that seemed like a giant root sat coiled around the path in loops that were more than large enough to walk through, also black with massive thorns growing out of it. Though it was a plant, the very next thought Loor had was of a coil of barbed wire, and she saw that it had grown right through the rock of the mountain, creating fissures and cracks in the path.

There was nothing to doubt here, particularly not between her and Jak's sense for it; these plants were tainted with dark eco.

Pressing on beyond this, their path eventually led them to a ladder laid against another rocky wall; it was the first sign of human development they'd seen in a while, and Jak took the lead with some hope that it meant they were about to find something. There was no mention that if they didn't find something soon, the hot dry air of the volcano was going to incapacitate the group. They were each sweating their own weight in salty water, walking on in search of some way out.

At the top of the ladder was a scene that Loor would remember in her nightmares. A dark satellite had crashed here, sure enough, and they had found it. The mech lay in pieces in what may have been a group of saplings and scrub grass at one time, but had since mutated into great twisted masses of giant-sized brambles like they'd seen on the path before. This thing had suffered more than enough damage to keep it from pulling the same move the one back in the city had; the thing was effectively dead.

So was the monk in front of it, on his knees with a look of horror permanently frozen unto a petrified face.

"Is that... normal?" Loor asked slowly as she pulled herself up behind Jak, who was already standing and staring, edging out of the way as Daxter took the hop to the ground to investigate on his own. Her question was directed at the body; this monk looked as if he'd been turned to stone, and while his face was intact enough to make out the fact that he died screaming, the rest of his body was downright skeletal and withered, covered in only broken pieces of his original armor and clothes. She knew eco could do some horrible things to a normal person, but this was a new one on her.

As she asked the question, she noticed this petrified man had died with something clutched in his hands.

"What the- it's another statue; like the one we saw back at the temple." She gaped, stepping to follow after Daxter, who was already doing his own close inspection. Indeed, between fingers that looked more like dead twigs than anything at this point, another evil-looking precursor statuette sat in this monk's hands. Unlike the one back at the temple, though, this one had bright purple glow emanating from it.

This one had power.

"Looks like it didn't agree with him." Daxter joked, grinning.

"Dax!" Loor scolded, glaring at the ottsel. "Jeez, and you yell at me for talking about the icky stuff."

"Big whoop, toots. He didn't get eaten by metal heads, and he ain't gooey." Daxter shrugged and reached out to pull the statuette free.

"Don't touch it, Daxter." Jak spoke quickly and sternly, reaching in to do it himself. "Who knows what more dark eco would do to you?"

Daxter waved his friend off, giving him a look while putting his hands on his fuzzy hips. "Look at me, Jak. I'm short, I'm hairy, and I itch in _strange_ places. I couldn't do worse." He then turned back to the task at hand. "Relax, I know what I'm doing."

Loor found herself glaring between the boys, but not intervening as Daxter grabbed the dead man's hand and tried to ease it off of the statue, grousing the whole way, simply crossing her arms over her chest and watching. "Ooooh, yuck..." The ottsel's theatrics were more than enough to get on her nerves. "Cold, clammy, dead hands... oh I can't look... uugh... ick..." He turned his head away from what he was doing, changing his stance to be standing _on_ the dead monk and get better leverage to pull his hand away...

When the brittle arm snapped off at the shoulder, upsetting the whole corpse and casing the little statue to come flying free. Loor stared as Daxter let off a yelp of surprise, but Jak snapped straight into action, leaping and catching the statue before it landed on his friend...

And vanishing.

Loor blinked; she'd watched it happen. No, not just that, she'd _felt_ it happen; a sizzle across her skin when Jak grabbed the statue and it reacted to him. At the moment he'd touched it, he had faded from view. She still heard him land, the thud of him tucking and rolling, saw his bootprints in the sand where he stood up again... but as far as her eyes could tell, he wasn't there. "... Jak?" She called, blinking as her brain locked up.

Daxter, getting back up and glancing around frantically, was much more vocal. "Jak? Jak? Where are ya, buddy? _HEY!" _

Loor felt this too; another type of burn. It was similar to the sensation that had come before, but much more intense as sparks began to lash out from the spot in space where Loor surmised Jak to be standing. A moment later, Jak faded back into view, looking just as shocked as the rest of them while the statue in his hands crumbled, the crystal cracking apart into flaky pieces. This sensation, on the other hand, stuck with her. Even as the intensity faded, she got the feeling that something else had just happened besides the destruction of the statue. "The... hell?" She asked, feeling the need to smack herself in the face for some reason. "Invisibility? Really?" She wasn't sure if she was totally jazzed or stuck on disbelief.

"Yeah..." Jak was just getting his bearings again, nodding. "Looks like it."

"Yeah, well, cut it out!" Daxter huffed, still freaked from the whole situation. "If you moved that fast a long time ago, I'd still be wearing pants!" He cried, pouting about the loss before taking on a more nostalgic look. "You know what I really miss? Soft underpants. You know how it lifts and cradles..." He looked up at his companions, though both of them wore somewhat questioning smiles. "Ah, you wouldn't understand."

Loor shook her head a little. She felt like she was missing something from what Daxter was talking about. She couldn't remember him wearing pants, ever, yet he talked as if it were Jak's fault he couldn't wear them anymore. She must have known at one point, because no one was moving to explain it to her... and honestly, now was not the moment to ask. Even with this discovery, they were stuck on this mountain.

_Unless..._

"Guys, remember that I found another one of those blue eye things back where we landed?" She asked as Daxter got back up on Jak's shoulder, the party moving to go back down the ladder and continue on forward; there was still another path off to the right of where they were, it was worth investigation. "If we could find another one of those statues, we could get past it. That warp-ring has to go somewhere; it might even connect back to the one at the temple."

"One-way transport..." Jak muttered as he only used the ladder as long as he had to, jumping down after he'd descended enough rungs to be safe. "And that first statue back at the temple... if we can figure out how it works, we can get in."

Loor pulled the same move with the ladder, jumping down and following as Jak got moving. "Those statues are clearly a dark eco thing... wonder what one of them is doing at a Precursor temple. Seems like blasphemy, with how Seem looks at us..."

"I think there's more to it than that..." Jak answered as their path took a sharp hook to the left, leading into a cavern. At first all Loor could see was that it was dark ahead, but once they stepped in and her eyes adjusted to the shadows, she found herself swearing out loud.

"Oh my- you're fuckin' kidding me."

This cavern was made of dark stone, the path they walked taking a sudden and sharp drop... and a faint blue-white glow coming from beyond.

"Well, this trip could have been a lot shorter." Daxter snickered as they all realized they'd just gone in a big circle. The drop back into the crevice was steep, but with some work they probably could have climbed it the other way. Loor hadn't seen it before because there was no light coming out of it, and the stone here was black, the shapes blending into the shadows and masking the opening.

Embarrassed, tired, and thirsty, Loor had no response to Daxter pointing out the obvious, the first one to ease herself down the drop. She was feeling incredibly discouraged; they had explored everything within their reach in here. Unless they'd missed something that meant they were still trapped, and she felt as if the heat was quite literally killing her. Not wanting to direct her sour feelings at the boys, she glared up at the source of the blue-white glow; the eye she'd found before, and the warp gate it was guarding.

Dusting herself off, she approached it anyway, wearing a stern frown as it stared at her in return, the dark pupil flicking up at the boys followed behind her and then re-focusing on her, since she was closest.

As she stood there, glaring and nearly growling, she felt something.

A searing sizzle of her senses.

Blinking, she glanced to where her body told it was coming from, off to her left. In the shadows that she hadn't bothered with before, hidden in the dark stone of the wall, was another one of the little evil precursor statues. She hadn't seen it before; it had been dormant like the one back at the temple, but this one now shined with the same inner light as the one they'd found with the dead monk.

Had she and Jak picked up something from it? Something that others of it type would recognize and activate for?

She... wasn't sure she was entirely happy with that. Still, this wasn't the time to argue. It was time to get out of here. She turned to find Jak right behind her, staring at the statue.

"How come you didn't tell us there was one of these here?" He asked.

"I didn't see it." She snorted in return. "You can scold me for being unobservant later, let's get out of here."

* * *

><p><strong>The Author's Corner<strong>

It's almost time... muhuhahahahaaaa!

Time for what, you might ask? Is it time for answers, or more questions? Oh, well you will see.

You shall see.

Oh hey, for those who care, I have a Tumblr. My URL is loorthedarkelf, my blog is called D.A.F.F.Y. I post random shit there sometimes.

MEOW

-Loor


	39. Senses

**I do not own Jak and Daxter, Jak 3, or any related properties. This disclaimer is repetitive... does anyone still read it? I wouldn't be surprised if you guys just skip right over this text up top. I'd skip it. But, just in case you don't, here's a fair warning; I strip down the temple a LOT. Seriously, some of the stuff they had in the game... the fuck?**

**ONWARD!**

**Vacation or War-Endgame  
><strong>**Chapter Thirty Nine-Senses**

Lauren was relieved when the warp ring dropped her, Jak, and Daxter back at the temple. The air actually felt cool, leaving the volcano behind and breathing fresh air with a refreshed appreciation for it. And then, almost at once, she looked to the little statuette in the wall to see if it had lit up like the one before. The answer was yes; eerie purple light came from within the dark crystal shape. "Looks like we can get in, now." She announced, moving for it without asking if they _should_ go in. The answer wasn't really about should or shouldn't at this point; from what she could get from the angle and light the sun was beginning to go down, and she hadn't noted any headlights on the dune hopper... and they _needed_ water. Their only chance at a source was inside the temple.

"Here's hoping this place ain't a heavy traffic zone for Seem and his peeps..." Daxter muttered. "Don't think ol' paint-face would like us having a camp-out here."

Loor didn't feel like arguing with Daxter about the pronoun, and if Jak had any comments he was keeping them to himself. It was time to get inside and find out... whatever else there was to find out. Loor made it to the statue, reaching out to touch it and feeling the searing heat over her skin that told her the power was working, just as it had moments before. Then, well aware that the power was limited and would wear out soon enough, she turned and sprinted for the glowing blue eye and the door it protected. Jak simply waited as she did so, the eye maintaining its focus on him.

When she reached the door it began to open automatically, and the eye experienced a moment of shock before vanishing. Odd loophole for a security net to have, she thought, for it to disable itself upon being bypassed, but she didn't know who it was really meant to keep out. Maybe that loophole existed for the sole purpose of letting in the people with the particular 'talents' to exploit it. Either way, the boys caught up with her as she felt the burn fading away, looking at her own hands to verify she was coming back into the visible spectrum of light. She hadn't puzzled out how this invisibility power was working either, but she was determined to do so once she had enough time on her hands... which meant never.

With the door open, the three of them moved to go inside. Loor had expected some kind of grand cathedral, but was instead surprised by an almost immediate set of stairs, leading them on a downward path to places unknown. She would have given pause to allow Jak to take the lead, but there was one more wrinkle that had her taking the steps two at time.

The sound of running water reverberated up from below, thundering past the walls from some distant place below. Some caution remained in her mind, enough to draw her stave out and keep her other hand on her pistol, but she practically ran into the unfamiliar temple at the prospect of finally finding water.

Jak was right behind her, keeping pace while wondering what else they might find in this place. While the upper area seemed to be poorly maintained, things were getting better as they descended. The walls, though still rough and occasionally broken, were still properly supported, and the ceiling was completely intact. The stairs themselves were mostly without damage, and nothing within was outright crumbling as the things outside were. There were torches, placed every few feet along the walls, staining the sandstone behind and above them black with soot and doing very little to change the fact that things were getting cooler by the step. They were leaving the heat of the desert behind, for the moment.

After more stairs than anyone in the trio would ever bother to count, they found the source of the sound; a broken section of the wall that had fallen in on the stairs. The open area left behind had a torrent of water rushing through it, some of it running into the stairway and flowing downward. They approached it quickly, Jak being the first to reach into the hole and pull his fingers back to his mouth, nodding back at Loor. "Freshwater. Maybe the backside of the waterfall we saw on the way up?"

"Doubtful." She responded, though the word didn't get long before she stepped up and used her hands to start drinking. It was messy and a lot of it ended up on her clothes, but she didn't care. With this taken care of, she could try and take as much pleasure in exploring as Jak seemed to. "My directional reasoning isn't what I'd call amazing, but I'm pretty sure we're not on that side of the spire, or that close to the edge..." She paused, thinking about it and then reaching into the space while Jak drank just as hastily as she did, Daxter hopping down to help himself. She shivered as her arm disappeared into the crush of cold water, struggling to keep it outstretched against the weight and pressure. Still, her curiosity pushed her to reach further in, holding the wall with her other hand after dropping her weapon. She felt no end to the stream of water until- there, there it was. A wall, beaten smooth. Her fingers dashed against it, a smile of satisfaction crossing her face. "There's another wall on the other side... could be some natural erosion, or maybe the people who built this place made a system that water would come down through the temple from the source... seems unstable to me."

"How so, toots?" Daxter asked, having briefly stuck his head into the flow and coming back extremely wet for it, shaking the water back out of his fur.

"Sandstone. Water wears it away really fast compared to other types of rock." She answered, drawing her fingers back from the wall she'd felt and losing an inch in her fight to keep her arm straight.

She blinked as she felt an edge.

She reached back out, wondering if her mind was playing tricks on her. She didn't feel it now, not even if she slid her hand around, and her shoulder was getting tired... and the rest of her was getting rather soaked. Maybe she was imagining things...

"What's up?" Jak asked, recognizing the look on her face.

"I thought..." She mumbled the words, shaking her head and pulling back, shaking herself and grabbing her weapon again. "Thought I felt a hole on the other side, but I can't find it again." She shrugged; even if she had found an opening, trying to get to it seemed to be a bit of a risk. They'd stick of the obvious path for this little venture. "So, any guesses on what we might find in here? I don't have a clue... precursor temple would make me assume anything _but_ dark eco stuff, and yet that's the first thing we find that's of any use."

"It seems to turn up all the places it doesn't belong." Jak agreed, looking onwards; a landing wasn't far off. "The precursors were all about light... who knows what might be down here?"

"Light an' robots." Daxter pointed out, looking refreshed despite the fact that he was dripping. "Don't think I'll ever forget about _that."_

"Robots?" Loor looked around at their downright primitive surroundings; this building was from the stone age. "That sounds a bit... out there."

"You could say that." Jak snickered, getting up again and waving ahead. "Let's move."

Jak took the lead after that, and the trend he'd been noticing continued; the further they went into the temple, the better taken care of it looked. Nothing looked particularly new, but after the landing things certainly looked cleaner and taken care of. The landing had continued on through a narrow hallway, somewhat ornate in the way that shapes of stone, similar to what had been on the outside door of this place, decorated the walls in embossed designs. He recognized quite a few of the shapes; the general shape he knew to represent the precursors, an object that reminded him of the basic form of a power cell, even a few images of the 'Hora-Quan' he'd seen in Mar's tomb; old representations of metal heads. Picture-history, he was sure, but there were several _other_ shapes he didn't get, making it all meaningless to him.

A glance back told him Loor was looking around in wonder, eyes wide as they made their way onward. She must have been fascinated; girl shoulda been a scientist.

Eyes went back forward when he heard something; the _tak-tak-tak-tak_ of something moving about at the far end of the hall where it took a sharp turn to the right, towards the inside of the mountain as far as his own sense of direction told him. Loor went tense too, the two of them beginning a careful advance as Daxter assumed his usual crouched position on Jak's shoulder armor when he expected to have a tough time hanging on.

From the end of the hall came a flood of huge _spiders. _Jak knew these creatures; he'd seen them before, but he almost couldn't believe it. He'd last seen this type of creature at the same time he'd seen the 'Hora-Quan' shapes on the walls; Mar's Tomb. Memories of the place were seared into his memory, and these monsters had been there in incredible numbers. Lacking skull gems, he still thought them to be some kind of metal head for one simple fact; their blood still swam in dark eco.

Forgetting the details for now, he twisted the morph gun to the scatter mod, using the wide-fire to hit multiple targets as the hallway made a perfect bottleneck for the large portion of spiders that skittered across the floor, Loor picking off the wall-climbers with her pistol, their shots causing the occasional splash of blood to whip forward.

Even at a few drops on his skin, Jak couldn't help a shudder. He was regretting not letting loose back at the arena; the eco in his system made him both jittery and sick, and mastering those things put him in both a sour and cold mood that only broke for the exciting moments of discovery and wonder. Worst of all was his mental block on Dark, which shook with every spark that crossed his senses. He could remember times with less eco in his system where just getting poked the wrong way would have set him off the deep end; this upper extreme...

_Hell... Damnit to hell._

It was almost more than he could handle.

Clearing the hall was quick work; the spiders were numerous but feeble, breaking apart when faced with the scattergun and a single shot from Loor's pistol able to run through several of them from the right angle. Able to move on and out of the now Eco-soaked passage was worth a sigh of relief, but it would be sadly premature.

Down another, much shorter and straight, set of stairs was a circular room.

Dark eco, depending on its intensity, hit all of Jak's senses. First was sight; small amounts always had the distinct color and slight glow of energy, the particular darkness that still produced light while seeming to make the world around it dimmer, bringing the term 'dark-light' to mind. Second was touch; his body perceived the sparks and arcs of energy of stronger sources, dancing on his spine and between his fingers, making the hair on the back of his neck stand up on end. Next came taste; a coppery flavor that hit the back of his tongue that wasn't unlike blood, though he imagined that _is_ what his blood tasted like now. After that was an intangible white-noise in his ears; if asked to identify the sound he'd be incapable, but it was part of his universal sense for eco and how his body set out to find it wherever it appeared. Finally, a part he usually only experienced around pools of pure liquid eco, was the smell; sharp and metallic, like hot tar and acid.

His body underwent a physical pause, a moment where he held perfectly still on the stairs, frozen in the sudden immersion. He was dimly aware of Loor being right next to him, but she didn't have to fight it like he did.

There was a moment when he thought he'd lose it. The buzzing in his ears changed to a more easily defined noise; the guttural sound of a roar that would come out of his mouth if he allowed it. His shoulders caved forward as if he'd been shoved-

_NO._

He forced himself back. Forced _it_ back. A moment of contact had to be made; the mental equivalent of a punch in the face from him to the creature that lived in him. Such contact gave him a glimpse of the beast's mind, a flash of a blood-soaked nightmare and the distinct rush of pleasure that came with the prospect of freedom. He wanted out, more than usual

_NO. _Jak repeated it to himself, forcing his shoulders back to once again stand like a human being, not a man-beast. Both physical and mental assertion brought him back to the real world; Daxter and Loor were both looking at him with worry, Loor standing in front of him.

Her face... she was feeling it too, but she wasn't fighting as hard; she had less of a charge, she was just fighting the addictive need to go to the source and touch it.

"We still got you, buddy?" Daxter asked; Loor seemed to have been struck dumb for the moment.

He nodded, looking on into the circular room at the bottom of the stairs. There was an eco source in there, and this feeling would remain until they got past it. "Yeah." He said roughly, coughing a little as he realized he had stopped breathing for a moment. He wanted to reprimand Loor; she should have recognized what was happening and ran from him, but she was standing right in front of him, too concerned to be scared... the subject wasn't worth words right now. Instead he gestured forward.

Damning the fact that there wasn't room left in his mind to process it, the source of the eco was puzzling at best and disturbing regardless.

"What the- a _vent?!" _Daxter was the first to voice his personal shock.

"Vent?" Loor asked, staring at the pillar of purple energy that welled up in the center of the room, emanating from a circular grille in the center of the floor that looked like a drain, but was in fact acting in the opposite effect. By anyone's guess, this heavy purple mass was a gaseous form of dark eco, blown up into the room and making an evil-looking cloud.

"A pipeline made to bring underground deposits of eco to the surface. Old precursor stuff." Jak answered shortly, keeping his distance while staring. There was another passage to the right, a right-angle from the bottom of the stairs. It would be best to get out of here as fast as possible before he lost it.

He saw Loor staring at it, though more than fascination was on her face now. Something that could be best described as hunger was flashing in her eyes, and indecision on her face. Conflict.

"Go ahead." He encouraged her. "We might need it later on." As much as they both hated it, the destructive abilities gifted by the eco did come in handy now and again. He was keeping himself in check; he had to trust she could as well. "If you can handle it." He amended at that last thought; he'd only trust her as far as she trusted herself.

She looked as he was edging to leave the room, hesitating before nodding and stepping into the cloud.

The sparks formed inside the cloud, going from the floor to the ceiling and using her body as a conductor like lighting inside a storm cloud. She withstood them though, a yelp escaping her as her vocal nature showed just as much for pain as it did for pleasure. She didn't stall in the middle, passing over the vent with a quick and almost panicked step, joining him by the way to leave the room, panting through her nose.

"You two are totally nuts." Daxter commented, shaking his head. "I love ya both, but you're crazy, okay?"

"Great, Dax." Loor smoothed her hair out, as if she expected it to be standing straight up after the experience she'd just put herself through. "Never fucking doing that ever again... _shit..."_

Jak put a hand on her shoulder, guiding her away from the room with the vent to move down yet another narrow hallway, not even looking up at what might be next. "You got it?" He questioned, even after what he said before.

"If you think I don't, you shouldn't be standing here worrying about it where _she_ could maul you." She pointed out dryly.

He actually cracked a smirk. Good thing he'd saved that lecture for later. _Guilty._

She was first to look up, pointing ahead with her compacted stave. "What's going on up there?" She asked, frowning a bit.

Jak was next to look, seeing that they were coming up on another circular room, but this one was much bigger. Pillars supported a higher ceiling, and stronger light came from a yellow dome above them. There was a door across the room, narrow and tall. There was another door, off to the right, that was made of solid bronze and in the shape of a circle, the design upon it...

No, it couldn't be.

Daxter was pointing, looking at Jak. He was seeing the same thing.

"That door looks like that seal you had!" Daxter spoke excitedly.

Mar's seal.

Mar. A man whose legacy was so great he was heralded as a God among men. A savior, founder of Haven city, and the protector of the precursor stone, as well as the last of their exalted race.

Jak didn't like where this was going. This was beginning to look a lot like he was _supposed_ to be here, getting swept up in some predestined bullshit. That was the _last_ thing he wanted to do right now. The last time he'd gone along with one of those plans, he'd ended up booted from the city he'd saved. He turned his attention back to the other door, the narrow one, without so much as a nod to Daxter for pointing it out. Crossing the floor, he made a point of looking the other way, even as Loor expressed some interest, if only with her gaze and nothing else.

He only stopped when Loor broke off from the group to go and take a close look for herself. He'd made it to the narrow door, it opening automatically like all other doors they'd encountered so far, while looking to his partner and trying not to be pissed in an overly outward fashion.

"The fuck are you doing?"

She gave him a look before shaking her head, getting to the seal-shaped door and putting her hands on the metal. "Huh... no activity... must be locked." She shrugged, coming back to him. "I get to be curious too, y'know. Like I said, I ain't nobody's happy little helper until I've got all the facts."

"What if it had opened?" He ask grumpily as the two of them went on.

"It didn't." She answered, her tone glib and unnaturally cheery. "Which means we'll _never know_ what it's hiding, huh? You're tellin' me the curiosity wouldn't have killed you if you hadn't even checked?"

He couldn't help glaring at her. He saw her point, but he had to get a dig back at her. "Is it gonna kill you now, since we can't open it?"

"At least I tried." She answered with a shrug.

* * *

><p><strong>The Author's Corner<strong>

DAMIT. IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE THIS CHAPTER. I WAS TRYING TO GET TO IT.

But sadly, it's going to have to be next chapter.

Chapter Forty. Well, at least it's a nice and even number. I do like those. Not to mention there was some good stuff in here...

Oh, right, I'm going home for a week to see my parents back in Minnesota as well as all my buddies. I prolly won't be writing much during that time, but I will (hopefully) come back with a vengance! Happy new year to you all!

Hopefully...

-Loor


	40. Mental Break

**I do not own Jak and Daxter. Oh well. **

**Vacation or War-Endgame  
><strong>**Chapter Forty-Mental Break**

After the dark eco vent, Jak thought there was nothing else this temple could throw at them that would be a surprise.

He had been wrong.

The trek had been a long one, coming through several rooms, halls, and down even more stairs. The idea of climbing back up all of those steps was not a pleasant one, but it was one that was also forgotten shortly after it had passed... mainly because they had entered another space that had almost too much going on to process.

First was another circular chamber; there had been many, a general theme of the architectural design. The very basis of such a design put focus on the center of the room, though this particular room didn't need much help.

Another vent sat in the middle of the floor, similar to the other room they had been in before with the dark vent. This one, however, had one very specific difference.

"Wow..." Daxter spoke in awe. "Never thought we'd see this stuff again..."

Light blasted out of the vent, blinding and pure. Jak was in agreement with Daxter; they hadn't seen nor heard about light eco since before they'd been in Haven, and even back in Sandover light eco was little more than a myth; a story told to children to convince them that there was a sense of balance to the world. If dark eco existed, light eco had to exist too, right? The answer was yes, and the last time Jak had seen it he had used it to end his first adventure on a rather unlikely but ultimately high note. Considering that before-time, he was both tempted and fearful to touch it.

"What the..." Loor was expressing her own curiosity, which was boundless. "Light...?"

"Light eco, toots." Daxter corrected. "I guess with the crystals we shoulda figured somethin' like this was possible, but-"

Daxter's explanation was cut short; Jak tensed and looked up into the space beyond. He'd heard something out there, which almost certainly meant whatever was out there could hear them. Making a motion for silence, he led the way out into the next chamber to investigate.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but the next chamber was, for lack of a better word, _huge. _An open cavern of smooth stone and precurian figures, standing as the grand and arching cathedral that they had been expecting several levels higher up. The place had a serene air to it while humming with power at the same time. Where they stood was merely a third of a room that was too huge to see at a glance... and a glance was all they had at the moment. Jak saw enough to know that there was a giant-sized precursor statue in the center of the room and several different passages in the area beyond before once again focusing to find the noise he'd heard. He'd been sure it was a voice, and one that was actually quite familiar...

"I want no excuses! You told me this could be done, now make it so!"

Off to the left, from one of the other passages, a man snapped these words in a downright poisonous aristocratic tone that expected miracles and tasks impossible simply because he asked for them. Jak took less than a second to turn his head and sight the speaker, moving to hide against the wall the moment he saw the face.

_Veger_ was here! How the hell was Veger here?! Screw how, why? And the person he'd been commanding so haughtily, a paint-faced monk-

"But we have so little time." The monk pleaded. "The day star approaches, you know what it brings!"

Seem! Loor had hit the wall next to Jak, looking just as shocked, staring at him as if he could provide some explanation to what they were hearing; and argument between two people whose connection had been wholly unexpected.

"Unfortunate, yes." Was Veger's response, though he didn't sound very regretful. "We will deal with that as soon as I have full access to the catacombs. Just continue your work, and I'll deal with those _idiots_ in Haven. I promise you, you will meet your makers!... Assuming you handle this job better than the last one I gave you."

There was a moment's pause before Seem responded. "The animal escaped. That was no fault of mine."

"I'm not here to argue the particulars of what was the fault of you and your monks, Seem. The fact is you have not been reliable of late, and the disappointment of that leads me to wonder if you truly deserve the rewards I've promised you." The threat was evident.

This time Seem didn't answer. Maybe he had a retort, but he was keeping it to himself. Apparently satisfied, receding footsteps indicated that Veger was leaving, the thud of a door slamming echoing through the mammoth room. It was only then, in renewed silence, that Seem spoke.

"As I wonder if you truly can provide those rewards." The monk muttered, moving to make his own leave. Her own leave. Jak didn't honestly know, and it didn't look like it mattered. Seem was Seem. It wasn't until the steps were gone and the same door opened and closed again before any of the trouble trio dared to talk.

"The catacombs?" Loor asked softly, not wanting to speak too loudly. "What are the catacombs?"

"And why are they so important?" Jak asked the important question that came after identification.

"Sounds like some more precursor stuff, as if this place wasn't already _swimming_ in the junk." Daxter pointed out while gesturing back at the cavernous space they'd entered. Now that the danger of being caught where they possibly didn't belong was gone he was back to investigating, and the first thing to take the spotlight was the _massive_ statue in the middle of the room. Always the gung-ho member of the group, at least on the ground and with nothing dangerous around, Daxter took the leap to the floor to get a closer look under his own power. "I mean, just look at this thing! It's one of those goober-eyed precursor thingies!"

Jak was certainly looking. The statue was of the classic shape of any Precursor statue; a strange and long head atop a mostly human, if not oddly narrow for it's head, body.

"Gotta say, I hope these images are exaggerations." Loor muttered, following after Daxter while still looking to where Seem and Veger had been. Clearly, she was still thinking about the conversation they'd just listened in on. "I mean, seriously... that's a fucked up structure for a skull. _Anyone's _skull, I don't care if they're some kind of god."

"Who says they have skulls?" Jak saw fit to crack, smirking. "Could be full of jelly for all we care."

She snickered at him. "Not the pious type, huh?"

"Hey, I won't argue their existence or their power, you got me there, but what kind of god just... _vanishes, _or dies out?" He shrugged. "I believe what I see."

As he and Loor stepped closer, something happened with the statue that got his attention; the eyes _opened._ The bronze lids that appeared closed over the protruding orbs slid aside to reveal two brightly glowing eyes. They produced a pure, white light, not unlike the eco vent behind them.

"Of course... always open to new evidence." He muttered.

"Nice save." She murmured back, just as transfixed by the event. To make it even better, a voice began to emanate from the statue; deep and booming.

"_Greetings great warriors! Your return brings us great hope. This planet's future is at a critical juncture. The Dark Ones have found your world again, and fate hangs in the balance where past and future collide." _

_What?_ Jak had to blink up at this thing. To be totally honest, this was far from the first time a precursor statue had talked to him, and they all used the same type of antiquated speech, but he usually got the jist of it. And sure, he got the warrior bit, the planet being in deep shit bit, but what was the rest of it?

And what in hell made this hunk of bronze think he _cared?_

Oh, right, gods. Probably the wrong thing to try and argue with without a bargaining chip.

Daxter, on the other hand, was much more vocal in his confusion. Blinking blankly at the statue, he looked back at his partners. "Do you guys have _any_ idea what he just said?" He then turned back forward, as if the direction he was facing mattered in this situation, and made several goofy symbols with his hands while speaking loudly and clearly. "Speak-a-da-normal-launguage, okay?!"

It was Jak's turn to blink when the thing actually made an effort to translate itself.

"_You will need all the power you can muster to survive this terrible test, great ones." _

"I can handle it!" Daxter boasted, assuming he was part of the conversation.

"_I was talking to the tall one... shorty!"_

"Hey!" Daxter was indignant, but Jak found himself growing more and more confused by this event. Was this really a precursor conduit? All the previous artifacts he'd ever interacted with never had this much... _personality. _He was beginning to wonder if this was the real deal, or some bored apprentice with a microphone.

Those doubts were banished a moment later.

Jak stood with Daxter and Loor on a round platform before the precursor oracle; between them and it was an open space with a long drop down into who knows where, but down wasn't currently the interest. _Above_ them a light began to shine; pure, white light. It sent a cool ripple over the platform, and made Jak think of a temple altar where rituals and rites were preformed instead. Loor was next to him, reacting with confusion and looking like she was ready to run before she trusted it, but he reached out for her. He knew this feeling. A gale of cool, calm, incredible energy.

Light eco.

"_Look into the light and receive a power, heroes." _

His head tipped back. The light, though bright, was not harsh. He had no trouble staring at it, and as he looked there was something happening in him that was... difficult to describe. He remembered that day, so very long ago, atop the silos at Gol and Maia's citadel; he'd come in contact with a light eco cluster and it had triggered a temporary transformation for him. He didn't know what it looked like, not having a mirror handy at the time, but he remembered what it _felt_ like; like being weightless. There had been so much energy, so much positive, incredible energy, he felt as if he could have picked up the world with a finger... and yet he had felt no desire to use it so flippantly. No, there had been a perfect moment of clarity and contentment... and the very next he had expended the energy to stop Gol and Maia.

He almost felt as if he were living that memory over again, but there was one very particular difference... the energy didn't leave him. His eyes closed as his pains left him, his worries, his anguish and anger. For one moment, he experienced perfection... and while that did not stay, there was one thing that didn't return once it was gone.

The sickness. The growing dread, nausea, and pain that had been caused by the dark eco taint. Jak realized he had been lifted away from the ground for a moment when his toes once again touched the alter, and he couldn't help a smile on his face as he looked down at Daxter, who was beyond weirded out and maybe a little frightened.

"Dax... the dark eco... it feels..." He stumbled on how to put it. "Far away... I feel better."

"Looks like the precursors want us to sign on for one more adventure, huh?" Daxter said with his hands on his hips. He wasn't going to make a big deal out of this. That wasn't his style. "Had to heal you and your lady up so you could stick around."

Jak looked to where Loor had been standing, where he'd steadied her to prevent her from leaving the alter, to find her... lying on the ground. She still stared up at the ceiling, and it simply looked like when she'd been set back down she hadn't bothered to hold up her own weight. The look on her face was perfectly blank, green and violet eyes wide and her jaw slack. To be honest... it looked like she were dazed, or otherwise incapacitated. "Loor?"

She didn't respond.

"Ah, what the hell?" Daxter asked, jumping up on the girl's chest and looking down at her face, waving a hand at her. "Loor, babe, come back to earth, would ya?!"

Her face didn't change, still staring. She occasionally blinked; her breathing was calm, her color was good... but something was certainly wrong. The look on her face was vacant. Jak glanced back at the statue, which had gone dormant by now with its bronze lids once again closed, and then crouched down over Loor to look down at her. Closer inspection revealed her eyes to be completely unfocused, her stare somewhat unnerving for how little life was in it.

Jak had a sinking feeling that was a bit too familiar at this point. The same feeling he'd gotten when Loor had gone comatose in the first place, after he'd saved her. The feeling he'd gotten when she'd woken up, but without her memories. He dashed the back of his hand on her cheek twice, but she didn't even twitch away.

"Ah, for serious?" Daxter was putting it together pretty quickly. "The precursor _broke_ her!"

Despite the bliss he'd been feeling only a moment ago, Jak found himself looking back at the statue one more time and having a horrible thought cross his mind. "Maybe she just wasn't... hero material."

"What, what?" Daxter looked at Jak with wide eyes. "You think... you think what it did might be too much for some people?"

"I don't know what to think." He admitted, growling a little. He wasn't sick anymore, yeah, that was great, but that didn't change the fact that he still had a lot of rage in him. Whatever had just happened here, it didn't stop him from getting mad. Without thinking about it, he shouted "What the hell is this?!" at the precursor statue, gesturing down at Loor.

Unsurprisingly, the statue didn't react to him. It had already done its job, now dormant again.

"Uh... Jakkie-boy?" Daxter quested from the ground. "You're talking to a statue..."

Jak was about to round on his partner, angry enough to continue yelling, but something stopped him.

Loor began to laugh. It started as a faint giggle; she was still staring at the ceiling and her eyes remained as they were, staring off into space, but she was soon snickering, a hysterical laugh coming out of her that shook Daxter off of her chest as she labored to breathe through it. They both watched her through the whole event, as she drove herself to panting for want of air but still giggling along the way. Between the empty eyes and the now blissful smile, the look she wore was creepy; like the painted face of a doll.

"The... heck?!" Daxter saw fit to ask as she still lay there, only now going in an out of giggle fits.

Jak only shook his head. He had no idea what had happened to her, or what they'd do with her. There was no doubt that Spargus would have no mercy for her, even if they could make it back to the city today; mentally ill meant useless. She'd be dead meat in this state.

"Let's get back to the surface and camp out here for the night... if she's not better by morning..."

He held off on vocalizing the thought. She was an invalid. There was no reason to think time was going to fix this, and he knew exactly what his options would be in the morning. Either leave her here, or take her back to Spargus and let _them_ decide her fate... which would be death, likely in the arena. Neither option was favorable.

He was still reeling from what was going on; she was gone again. He'd just been talking to her, and now...

_She's really gone this time._

"We'll figure somethin' out." Daxter said with certainty while hopping up on her chest again, grinning. "You hear me, Loor? You better enjoy this little nap, because you're never gonna hear the end of it from me when you're fixed up again!" He then looked up at Jak, offering a smile.

Nodding a little, Jak bent to pick Loor up.

* * *

><p><strong>The Author's Corner<strong>

WHY do I do this?

Because it pleases me, that's why.

-Loor


	41. Delusion

**I do not own Jak and Daxter! SORRY! **

**Vacation or War-Endgame  
><strong>**Chapter Forty One-Delusion**

Loor didn't know particularly where she was, and perhaps she didn't care to know. She remembered light, so much light, and then there had been nothing. Not darkness, mind you. True emptiness. An absolute void in which she had been lost. There had been fear; fear that her existence had finally been brought to an untimely end, but the void hadn't lasted long. No, colors returned to her, and she laughed in relief, for there was no greater joy than the fact that she was still alive. Still breathing, still in the world, still _living. _

Even when the world began to move before she was ready to move, she still felt happy. Blissful. Incredible. Colors became dark, and she stopped moving, but other things were moving around her. Noise being made. What was going on? What had she been doing? Those questions were lost before she thought too hard about them, which bothered her. Her smile left her as curiosity and frustration ruined her bliss; she wanted to think about those questions- where did they go? What had she been thinking? Why had she been thinking it, and-

_Something is wrong._

Thinking these words, clearly in her own mind, gave her sudden focus. At that moment she drew a sharp breath in and realized another one of her senses; smell. She was outside, and the ocean wasn't far, nor was the smell of fire burning through wood. Was the darkness the night sky? It smelled liked the night; the way the world smells different under the moon than it does under the sun. She'd never known the exact reason for such a thing, but she knew it to be true. Quite true. Perchance that was also why the sand was cool under her fingers-

Touch! Ah, her body returned to her now! She lay on her back, but with an awareness of her body she found herself sitting up, the blended colors of the world shifting and changing as she moved. She sat on loose sand somewhere. Was the ocean near her? She didn't remember. She could smell it, but she couldn't see it... no matter how she tried, her eyes refused to focus on the world around her, the colors preferring to swim about in a dim kaleidoscope that made her dizzy. Where _was_ she?

_**Still waking back up? **_

A voice that swung open a door of perception; ambient sound in place of the silence that had been before, and...

She turned her head to look. Her sight was clumsily ordering itself, but she had to question what she saw. Question if it were reality, or if she was dreaming, for the animal she knew as Lyra stood before her. The creature was as she'd always been; a pale and twisted version of herself, all womanly curves and beastly danger, black eyes staring at her with uncanny interest. Her appearance was disconcerting in a place that was not their mind, and yet it made Loor feel better about how unreal the world felt at the moment. Objects in her sight seemed to hold only loosely to their shapes, the lines not in her sight and the shadows ever-shifting. Still, Lyra seemed in good order... maybe she knew what was going on?

_**Oh, now that's cute. **_The animal grinned. **_You're so lost, you're going to ask me for help? How darling, little Loor. But, that wouldn't be any fun._** She turned, springing away from Loor and cackling along the way.

_What the-? _

_**Follow me! **_

She was unsure. Unsure of reality, unsure of where she was, what was happening, or even _if_ it was really happening. She couldn't recollect what she'd been doing before, and this moment seemed to be the only one her mind was willing to deal with.

_My mind... _She frowned. _There's something wrong with my mind._

Slowly, she found her feet. It was hard to walk when the ground couldn't decide where it wanted to be, much less run after Lyra as the creature bounded on. There was a doorway, and stairs, and a wall that Loor thanked God for as it supported her unsteady weight. Where did the stairs go?

_Where are you taking me?_

_**Places curious, places unknown! **_Lyra only stopped to tease, looking back at Loor from several steps down and grinning. **_We wonder about so many things, but you were too scared to try... So I'll take you on a little adventure while we wake back up!_**

Loor felt her stomach getting upset, motion sick, with how the hall around her seemed to heave now and then. Lyra seemed... excited, calling back often before rushing ahead, only to round and look at Loor's slow progress with a desperately eager face. An excited child, deciding on her own to do something and dragging a grumpy parent along for the ride, simply because she couldn't go it alone.

_She doesn't exist in this world. _Loor reminded herself. The stairs seemed to settle as she did so. _I've never seen her like this... why...? _

_**Tch! So many questions, Loor! **_The animal spat, mood turning dark as she rushed back up the steps to meet her host. As if to disprove Loor's thoughts, she took her by the shoulders and held her, grinning into her face as Loor gasped, feeling the creature's skin. **_I am as real as I like to be, as loud as I care to be, and if these happen to be my last moments of freedom I'll do with them as I please. It's already in us, making changes, but it has to work so hard to fix the old damage... _**Her mood changed again, the eagerness of a playful kitten taking her as she returned to prancing ahead. _**So I'll take my joy in this moment, and damn what comes next! **_

_It...? _Loor wavered on the spot, but pushed herself to keep walking. Whatever was going on, it seemed... important to Lyra, and Loor hadn't the focus to argue wit her. As usual the animals emotions coursed through her as sure as her own, and soon she found her interest on a hole in the wall along the stairs. There was water rushing through it, cold and violent, some of it misting and hitting her as she inspected it. She was beginning to remember... she'd drank some of this water; she'd been so happy to find it, and Daxter-

_Jak! Daxter!_ Her head whipped around to look back up the stairs, but the action only caused her to fall over as the world spun like a top, leaving her confused. _Where are they? Are they okay?_ She still asked, even as her stomach began to rebel again.

Lyra's face appeared in her vision, blocking out all the rest as the animal's nose nearly touched hers, the mane of silky black hair she carried blocking out everything her face didn't. _**You and your questions! You're ruining this adventure, so shush! Your man and his pet are back where you started, sound asleep, and we are going through the wall! **_

_Through the...? _The query didn't even get a chance to fully form as Lyra left her, vanishing through the water that fell through the wall.

_**Come on, now. There's a hole on the other side. You found it earlier today; felt the edge. Find it again, and go through it. **_

_Why...? _Loor asked, though she knew the reason why. Lyra wasn't the only one who wanted to know what might be in there; what secrets could be discovered by going places they didn't belong. There was a thrill to discovery, and she found herself climbing to the hole in the wall to reach through it before she'd even heard Lyra growling at her again for continuing to ask questions.

The water was cold, moving fast. It was a heavy force that Loor had to resist just to reach her hand in, and then to push her arm in far enough to find the far wall. She searched now, for the edge that she'd felt... or that Lyra told her she'd felt. Did she actually remember that, or was it part of this strange delusion? Was this real, or was she dreaming?

She felt as if another hand gripped her wrist, pulling her to the side and down to find the rough edge of a hole and nearly getting the rest of her body yanked into the water. She almost jumped back, but managed to maintain her position while crawling her hand over the edge. There was a hole; she could trace it now, and guesstimate if it was big enough to allow her through. By feel, it certainly was, but all of her senses warranted more than a little doubt at this moment.

She felt it again; the hand. Lyra's hand, wanting to yank her along.

_Pretty strong for a delusion. Think you can pull me up if I get stuck in the water?_

There was silence.

_Then let go. _

_**Then hurry up! Who knows when you'll finish waking up, and then... **_

Lyra trailed off as Loor slowly found the bottom of the hole with her hand. Wrapping her fingers around the edge, she wanted to be sure her grip was on something sturdy before she chanced the water.

_**Who knows if I'll ever be this free again? Embrace the adventure, Loor! Let it be like old times! **_

_Old times...? _Drawing in her breath, she held it while gathering her legs under her and pushing herself through. The water hit her like a ton of bricks, but her legs pushed most of her body across before it could drag her down. Her other hand found the edge as her body broke through, pushing herself and wiggling through into another room on the other side of the wall. _I... can't remember any times. Just this time. _

_**Better that way. **_Lyra assured, appearing to her once more and pulling on her. **_Let's explore! Let's be kids again! You can even sing to yourself; do you remember that? You liked to sing to me when we were alone, back when we were the same. _**

_I-I..._ Loor was slowly getting up, pushing her hair out of her face and water out of her eyes as she looked on into the room they'd just entered. Maybe it was her and Lyra's combined attentions, but this place seemed a little clearer than everything else had up to this point. The room was a small cell, with a cot, a rug on the stone floor, and a curtain hung in place of a real door. With prodding, Loor moved for the curtain, making an effort to try and remember some of what Lyra was talking about... and some memory _did_ come to her, but it was so far away it seemed like another life. _That was us...? That was... years ago, Lyra. How old was I? Ten? Eleven? I didn't even know that you were really there... I was just alone a lot, and I wanted to talk to someone. _

_**And you talked to me. **_She giggled, sweeping the curtain out of the way for Loor. Beyond a dark hallway led off to the left and the right. It was dark in both directions, leaving things as a flip of a coin. Loor decided to go right. **_Well, what eventually became me... we were never quite right up here, you know. _**

_I... think I forgot. _Loor felt her way along in the dark. There were more cells set in the wall to her right; rooms? For who? Who was living here? She still didn't remember where exactly she was, but those questions would go under the radar for now. The hall eventually made a turn to the left, and she followed it. _I thought you made me crazy. Have we... always been this way?_

_**Not always-always. You were just sad, and lonely, to start with. That was before me, but you thought about it a lot. Cried about it. You hurt all the time. The first I remember, you were singing. **_

A faint laugh passed Loor's lips as she remembered her habit to sing when she was a child; it was something she did while she was alone. There had been a house her family had lived in, with a tree she liked to climb. She'd sit in it and sing nonsense syllables in a way that sounded pretty to her. She never thought about it as a reaction to the fact that she was almost _always_ alone, it was just something she liked to do _when_ she was alone. Now that she considered the memory, she did remember feeling better for such a silly activity.

The memory seemed to pass through her current reality; the smell of the tree and the breeze of the summer day; the orange light of the sun going down as she wasted time, singing to herself.

_You're being strange..._ Loor noted as only the light lingered, leading her to a room at the end of the hallway. _You're usually so angry... why the trip down memory lane? _

_**You'll know soon enough, when you wake up. I just got to remember first.**_

_When I wake up... So, I am dreaming? _She asked.

_**I donno. **_Lyra looked back with a smirk. **_Are you? Are you making up this hallway as we walk it, building the room ahead as we speak? _**

_I... have no idea. _

_**Then let's find out. **_

Lyra remained in the lead as the emerged into a dim room that was a little taller than the hallway and home to a very wide space, broken up by dividers of wood and leather. Loor's hands left the walls of the hallway and found wooden tables, strewn with papers and books, for support. Her nose detected various aromas in the room... none of which she found pleasing. Sweet, sour, bitter, and all of them with a quality that made her feel sick and gave her an odd taste on the back of her tongue. Her fingers tripped over loose books with blank pages, rustling the papers as she continued to seek support and stimulation. This room... there was something horrible about it. Something about what her nose was telling her that made her want to run.

_**Toxins...**_ Lyra hissed. **_Poisons. Death. _**

Loor tripped on a stack of books that had been left on the floor, landing in a heap and scrambling to get up again as her world tried to scramble once more. Colors mostly stayed settled where they belonged now, but sudden movements made it all bleed and shake up. Cursing, she pushed herself back up as she saw Lyra wandering further, past the dividers and the only source of light in the room; a small group of candles that burned on a ledge of the far wall.

Without thinking, she followed Lyra, pushing herself forward as her curiosity took over all the questions of what this place might have been. As she grew closer, it seemed like there was something to the left that had the animal's attention.

Granted, when she got there, it had Loor's attention too.

Walls had been built up to the ceiling to cordon this area of space off, a heavy door like that for a horse's stall left wide open for the moment and showing the interior of what could only be described as a small prison; a little area made to contain something dangerous. On the floor was a raised cradle that had the general shape of a person with... shackles, metal restraints, over where the wrists, elbows, ankles, knees, neck, and hips would be. There was a glass tank set into the back wall that was currently empty, but had a symbol stamped on it that Loor recognized; the same symbol that got stamped on call containers that held dark eco. And, last but not least, a system of eight tubes came from the back wall, linking up to pulleys on the ceiling and the excess hanging down. Each tube ended in a narrow barb; a needle.

Several memories were struck. Loor had not forgotten her torture in Haven, and she knew she was far from the only one, but such experiments _here? _Now she knew she had to be dreaming. Just looking at the needles, all eight of them, made the scars on her body tingle and burn. Some poor person... had suffered here.

_**This is no lab. **_Lyra spoke as if to argue the thought. **_Not like Haven. Not like where I was given life. This is... different. Smells different. Feels different. Not enough energy. _**

_Doesn't change that someone was tortured here... _Loor stepped forward, reaching out and touching one of the needles, taking into her hand and pulling it down to stare at it. The barb had to be at least four inches long, though she knew it wasn't meant to go all the way in; these were the exact same design of the needles that had been used in her experiments. In Lyra's... creation, as it were, though the creature's personality had been alive and well in her mind long before hand.

_**Loor... **_

Sudden tension. Lyra had heard something.

_**We're not alone. **_

The warning came too late; a hand took Loor's shoulder before she could look; a prick of pain and wash of cold following after and making her shudder and sway on the spot.

"Animals should know better than to wander in secret places."

That voice! She knew that voice; so calm, so soft to be almost genderless, she knew that voice! She knew... she knew...

The cold hit her brain; she was asleep.

* * *

><p><strong>The Author's Corner<strong>

HOLY HELL, TWO IN ONE NIGHT!

So... um... Hi. :D

-Loor


	42. Contained in a Name

**I do not own Jak and Daxter. **

**Vacation or War-Endgame  
><strong>**Chapter Forty Two-Contained in a Name**

The trio had set up in the open area of the temple, though setting up just meant finding patches of ground that were slightly less uncomfortable to sleep on than the rest. It had been good and dark when they'd found another one-way warp ring down in the room with the precursor oracle, bringing them back to the surface and the starry night sky. Unsure of what else to do with her, Jak had laid Loor down on the ground near where he decided to sleep. His worries kept him from resting for some time, but eventually he decided to force himself into his own head to make falling asleep easier.

It was usually an action he regretted. His own mind tended to be a nightmarish playhouse when he was trying to sleep; Dark's personal psyche and it's twisted imagination hard at work on new ways to hurt him. This war had been going on for a long time; at first Dark thought he could actually kill Jak in his head, since everything in it seemed just as real to the animal as the outside did. Then, when he realized such a thing couldn't be done but a certain amount of instability _could_ be achieved, the beast continued his efforts as a means to a different end. His goal was a simple one; break his host. Drive Jak into insanity, to see the world as the same plaything he saw it as, and life would be as he wanted it.

And, if Jak dared to be proud of himself, he had persevered through all this time. He had survived all of Dark's efforts, and resisted the temptation to simply see the world the way he did. Of course, that didn't mean he was cocky about their little war. In fact, in the last few weeks, he'd grown more and more worn out and worried. He'd honestly wondered when he and Loor had begun to get sick what would go first; his body or his mind?

Tonight something had changed, though. Something that gave Jak a new confidence has he dared to enter his own mind in the pursuit of sleep.

The _light. _

The power of what the precursor oracle had done still lingered in him; it had remained since the event, and Jak had a couple theories about what it had done to him. He wasn't sick anymore, as far as he could tell by taking physical stock. More than that, the constant mental pressure to keep Dark at bay was no more; something else was keeping the animal off of his back... though not quite in the same way. In one sense, the beast was closer to him than ever before while he was awake. To put it to a metaphor, the barrier he had maintained before had rather like a thick stone wall; heavy, hard to move, and impossible to perceive anything through. He kept Dark out by concentrating on not feeling the creature, ever. Whatever had happened down there had replaced his defense with something that was just as strong, just as effective at keeping him at the driver's seat of his own mind, but a great deal more like a clear sheet of glass. Dark was able to watch again, and Jak, to feel him and be aware of his doings.

And the first thing the both of them had been aware of was losing Loor again.

To say Jak was angry was an understatement. And if _he_ was pissed, Dark was off the scale. And yet, despite them matching in rage, Jak hadn't even had to struggle to keep himself. No sparks danced upon his skin, no heat demanded his attention and commanded destruction; he remained with the rage.

It was actually a bit odd to remain upset for so long without something going horribly wrong.

Passing into his own head was an action that was far from natural; it wasn't something he did often. Not unlike meditation, he closed his eyes and tried to rid himself of thoughts. It was an exercise in futility, but it would lead him in as he found the one thought he couldn't rid himself of and would instead end up focusing on. The thing that weighed heaviest on him would take the spotlight, and lead him down.

_Loor..._

He knew he'd made it when his eyes opened upon a memory. Maybe it was the fact that he couldn't let go, or that Dark thought it was funny, but this was the usual; he stood at the beach near Sandover. This was a night frozen in time, the waves coming and going but the moon never moving, the tide never changing. It was a beautiful night, immortalized in a glorious dream that he liked to return to and pretend was real.

The first time he'd entered his own head, a desperate attempt to fight off Dark when he'd first emerged, the ocean had been red, the distant village in ruins, and fire reaching into the sky. A nightmare that still flashed before his eyes every time he came here. It ruined the tranquility of the memory, and kept him from smiling at it.

Speaking of Dark, the animal wasn't far away. Jak could sense as much, but he turned away from the beach to find the creature pacing the cliffs on all fours as if he were some kind of ape rather than an animal wearing a man's skin. He was near one of the mechanical lifts, but Jak knew he wouldn't use it if he decided to come down. Still, as another oddity on the night, Dark expressed no interest in him.

Despite the distance, the animal's thoughts were loud and clear when he decided to comment on Jak's curiosity. _**… disappointed? **_

_Something's different. _He returned, facing out to the ocean and sitting down in the sand. He didn't bother speaking out loud to Dark; the animal didn't understand it for some reason. Thoughts, on the other hand, seemed to act as some kind of universal language.

"You could say that."

Jak nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard a new voice; smooth and calm, and... attached to a form that was suddenly sitting next to him on the sand. His instant reaction was the roll away, hands up for defense while staring at what had just spoke to him.

It looked like a ghost; a faint shape of a man in blue, drenched in soft white light. He sat there in the same way Jak had set himself down in the sand; facing out to the ocean with his knees up and apart, his arms resting on them. He looked calm, even casual, staring out at the tide with a faint smile on his indistinct face.

_What the hell...?_

_**There you are! **_

Dark had finally come down from the cliffs, but not to go after Jak. No, his attention was focused on this new creature, barreling down the beach on two legs while his talons were out for business, roaring during his charge. Jak had his mouth open to shout a warning to whatever this new thing was, but Dark was upon him before he could even react. With a leap the monster was airborne, on a collision-course with the new arrival-

To pass right through him as if he were a ghost. Dark crashed and rolled, ending up in the water and snarling his distaste as he got up and shook himself, looking like he was getting ready for another attack.

Holding up his hand, the glowing man's smile grew as he switched modes of communication. While he had spoken to Jak, his thoughts resonated in the same way to speak directly to Dark. _There's not enough of me here for you to touch me, animal. I thought I explained that to you when I arrived? The precursors only have so much power left... just getting me here in the first place was a strain, what with the other one needing to be gifted at the exact same time. _

"Getting you here?" Jak asked, cocking his head to the side as Dark put his rage on hold for the moment. He was still tense, still thinking about another attempt, but he was waiting. "What... are you? Wait, other one... you mean Loor? Do _you_ know what happened to her?!"

_A sort of re-boot, I imagine._ He shrugged. _She received the same priming charge you did, back when you saved that precursor egg from the Hora-Quan... but there was damage to both of you when we arrived. First priority is to repair the vessel, so to speak. If I understand your memories properly, there was quite a bit of damage to her brain... even with light eco, fixing a mind is... complicated. It may appear broken while other pieces are being repaired; only so much can be active at once. _

_**So it's another one like you who damaged her! **_Dark attempted another lunging attack that ended just as gracefully as the last one did.

_What do you care, animal? _This new being's tone was almost sarcastic as Dark's talons once again passed through him instead of making any sort of contact. _Don't tell me the Dark Ones have learned how to love while contained in a human shell? _

_**I marked her, she's mine!**_ The response was vicious, sparks coming off Dark's body as he got more and more riled up, shaking the sand out of his face and rounding for another attempt at the assault. **_I rightfully dominated her! _**

_Here's betting whatever mark you left on her healed when she gained her new, lighter piece. _He then shuddered, shaking his head and looking back to Jak. _All this lust... war is hardly a time to be chasing such things. _

Jak could only nod, still disturbed and shocked at everything that was going on. The fact that he could feel Dark's intentions was just as invasive as it had always had been, but this new creature was impossible to ignore. "So... Loor will be alright?" He asked, trying to cut to the chase of at least one of the questions on the table.

_Given time and energy, I expect so. She may need more light eco than her physical body can currently contain, though. I was... connected to my partner until we both finished settling in, and what thoughts I did get from her were... upset that our masters had given her such a mess to deal with. _

Jak nodded slightly, not quite sure what to do with that information. Part of him wanted to leave his mind and move Loor back to the light eco vent they'd found down in the temple. While he pondered this, he noticed that Dark was once again gearing up for an attack, though his efforts had all been in vain thus far. The only difference this time was that the creature was lined up to hit both of them; assuming the animal just passed through the new guy again, Jak could see that he was about to get hit with the full burnt of Dark's rage and frustration.

The animal had already launched again; there wasn't time to move out of the way but Jak tried to scramble to his feet anyway.

The light creature raised his hand again without looking, looking bored as Dark collided with a wall of white light that hadn't been there a moment before, and vanished as soon as the creature fell back into the sand. _Mind yourself. You can attack me all you like; you can't hurt me... but it is my job to protect your host from you, among other things, animal. _

Jak was left to stare, stupefied. Dark had just been swatted light a fly; treated as if he were no more than an annoying child. What _was_ this thing?

_You should rest. _He looked up at Jak from where he sat in the sand. _The dark eco can't hurt you anymore. You have... quite a life ahead of you. That life starts tomorrow. _

"What... who are you?" Jak managed to ask, though as this creature told him he should be resting he suddenly felt extremely sleepy. There was power in the words.

_I was born both formless and nameless; a construct of energy, made by the precursors to be gifted to chosen heroes during times of crisis. I've lived several lives, with humans and other races of similar intelligence and culture, across countless worlds and generations. If you care to, you may give me a name, as previous hosts have done... but you really should **sleep. **_

Another wave of drowsiness hit him, stopping him from processing most of what had just been said. Still, the idea of a name stuck in his mind. Well, Dark had been simple enough...

"...Light." He muttered as he fell back into the sand.

* * *

><p>Jak was awake as the sky was just brightening with daybreak. Despite sleeping on the ground, he felt pretty good. Oh, sure, sore, but everything else felt pretty dandy. It hit him, again, that he wasn't sick anymore.<p>

The eco wasn't killing him anymore. What's more, he had some hope that Loor was gonna be okay. Looking to one side he found Daxter curled up on Loor's extra effects that Jak had taken the time to remove from her last night; her holsters, goggles, shoulder armor, and scarf, all in an effort to make her a little more comfortable. Not that she'd reacted at the time besides occasionally giggling while still staring off into space. Either way, his partner was fast asleep and Jak didn't think to bother him right now. Instead he looked to his other side while sitting up, to where he'd left Loor last night.

She wasn't there.

He blinked, getting to his feet and looking around the open area of the temple and seeing no sign of her. He was confused, but there was also a greater hope; if she was gone, that meant she had _moved._ She'd gotten up and walked away, which was better than she was last night. All he had to do was find her. Assuming her condition was only good enough for walking she wasn't climbing back to the top of the temple, and the warp gate wasn't accepting passengers at this end, which meant... she'd gone inside. Process of elimination.

Entering the temple, he moved down the incredible amount of stairs faster than the last time he'd been in there. He was reminded, about the time he was passing the hole in the wall that they'd all stopped at the day before for water, that he was also missing several of his effects. He'd taken off his own holsters and such last night, and he'd left them behind in his sudden determination to find where she'd gone. Still, he was far enough down that he didn't really want to go back up to the surface by any way besides the warp gate. Continuing down, he passed through all the same rooms from the day before, including the one with the dark eco vent.

The further he got, the more worried he became. If Loor wasn't down here, where was she?

What if she hadn't wandered off, but someone had found them last night and decided to take the giggling invalid away because she wouldn't put up a fight? He'd slept hard; someone might've been able to sneak up on them. He hadn't even thought about keeping watch; he'd simply assumed the temple was fairly safe.

His gait grew more brisk, covering ground faster with that thought in mind.

Tension became relief when he found her.

Loor laid on her back in the room with the light eco vent, her head actually _on_ the vent as her eyes were closed in peaceful sleep. Her hands were folded just under her bust, and she appeared unharmed.

Jak felt a slight smile on his face as he went to her. Light had told him that she would need more energy; she probably knew it too. She'd just come down here when she was able to walk so the healing process could continue. Crouching down, he reached to touch her shoulder. From the look of the stream of eco, how it blasted past her and up into the room rather than concentrating around her, he could only guess that she wasn't taking on any more... which meant whatever healing was taking place was done. This was the moment of truth.

Her eyes opened when he shook her, squinting at first and then actively blinking. She seemed confused, and then she sat up, looking at him quizzically.

His heart sank as she dismissed him after a moment, getting to her feet to look at her surroundings. She said nothing, intensely curious about what was around her and taking in the world with her hands, muttering fragments of words and utter gibberish along the way. Then, without even looking back at him, she took off for the stairs to go back up on foot.

"Loor!" He shouted after her as she moved quickly; not quite running but certainly moving with purpose. He got up to follow her, despite the conclusion he was forced to make; she was still damaged. She was up, she was walking, but she didn't even seem to know who he was. In a moment of being eye-to-eye with her, he'd seen no recognition; it was still rather like the stare of a doll. Even if she was talking now, it didn't make any sense. She was babbling.

Despite that, she could still put on a fair bit of speed. He had to push to catch up and keep up with her as she got back to the stairs and took them two at a time. He had to wonder, what was she running for? What was going on in her head that drove her to do this? As suddenly as she'd taken off, she came to a grinding halt shortly before they made it to the surface.

She'd stopped at the hole in the wall. One foot still on the stairs, the other leg bent to rest on the fallen rock, her hand in the water that rushed through.

"Loor?" He asked her again. "... what are you looking for?"

She didn't respond, leaning her head forward into the water and letting it wash over her skull. She shifted several times, until all of her hair was wet, wearing an odd expression that said she was enjoying the water, but there was something else bothering her.

What was he thinking? Was she even still _in_ there?

He stepped up behind her, putting his hand on her shoulder. He didn't pull, he just rested his palm there. He wanted to say something; something that might bring her back to him... but all he was left with was a name. All he could think of was to ask for her, once more, by her name.

"Lauren..."

A shock ran through her. A definite jolt that brought her head up and out of the water. Then, as she stood there with the short black crop of hair laying over her face and dripping, she shook and then stood stock still again. Slowly, she withdrew her hand and used it to push her hair back and out of her face. Her other hand came up to continue to tame it, the first one cycling back as her fingers dug in, as if she meant to grab her hair and pull on it. He kept his hand on her as she stood there, waiting. For what, he didn't know.

Then, after taking a deep and shuddering breath, she spoke.

"My name was Lauren Elizabeth Randolph. I am, chronologically speaking, thirteen and a half years old. I am physically at nearly seventeen years of maturity due to a reaction between dark eco and my metabolic rates. I'm from the town of Kingston Minnesota. I had a family; parents, brother, sister... but all of that feels like a really long time ago, doesn't it?"

Her head dropped down as her hands still raked her hair, a chuckle coming out of her.

"Lauren is that little girl. She gets to have that family, and that home. She gets to be thirteen, and she never has to grow up. Her favorite games can just be her favorite games, and her hero will be fiction for the rest of her life. Her family will always love her, and that'll be the only love she ever knows. But me... who am I? I'm the girl who grew up; who had the accident and traveled beyond the end of the world. I'm the girl who lost her mind, and gave up being Lauren because I had to. There was no way Lauren could survive here."

Her hands dropped, finally turning around to look at him.

Her eyes had focus; life.

She was back.

"My name is Loor." She spoke with finality as she smiled at him. "And I remember everything."

* * *

><p><strong>The Author's Corner<strong>

TRANSFORMATION COMPLETE!

Well, at least THAT transformation. Loor's personal transformation.

Uhh... donno what else to say so we're moving on!

Thank you all for your wonderful reviews! I love you all!

-Loor


	43. Kaleidoscope

**I don't own Jak and Daxter. **

**Vacation or War-Endgame  
><strong>**Chapter Forty Three-Kaleidoscope**

Loor was back. She didn't know how long she'd been gone, but she felt as if she'd come back from the dead to a body that had been living without her for a couple of months. There was so much, and though _she_ had technically lived it, it didn't feel like she'd been the same person. In all technicality, she wasn't. She'd been a native, as far as she was concerned. Someone who was, if not from Haven, at least from the same damn _era_ as Haven. She'd lived as someone who belonged, survived to the best of her abilities without any of her knowledge or history to guide her. Those memories would have to be sorted through later, because there was something else pressing her that had her physically shaking with rage.

She had lived as if she had belonged, but that was a lie. She had been _allowed_ to believe that lie, and put nearly incomprehensible risk upon those around her.

Though she smiled at him, the man who had perpetrated this lie upon her was Jak. He knew. He _knew_ the danger her existence represented in this frame of time; in the light of the strange situation that she had just survived, it was _his_ responsibility to tell her just how wrong she was in even _thinking_ she might have been a natural part of this time line's landscape. She remembered his excuses for not telling her; that she wouldn't believe him, couldn't believe him, but that didn't change the fact that he should have at least _tried. _Usually she would articulate all of this. Maybe she was the one failing right now, because she wasn't verbally telling him what he'd done wrong.

No, the smile on her face faded at her eyes grew hard. He only had time to get out a befuddled; "Loor, what's wrong?" Before she acted.

She hauled off and struck him.

The hit was nothing less than a cheap shot; she'd been no more expecting to give it than he was expecting to get it, but she was too high on the rage to care. She was pissed, and for once Lyra wasn't ripping her out of the driver's seat to take care of it for her. For the first time since she'd woken up in that test tube, nearly six months ago, she was allowed to experience rage with the violence and lack of sense only a child could muster. No, she was alone and high on the rush, throwing enough of her body into it that she ended up taking the tumble down the stairs with him when he went over, clutching his face. Her shoulder crashed into his chest as the two of them hit the stairs, the world swirling as her back as the next part to take a sharp impact from the edge of a stone step, his weight on top of her only making it dig in.

There were several more revolutions before the landing, both of them taking lumps, but something was happening with Jak that was actually enough to distract her from the dizzy tumble.

Purple sparks leapt off of his body; somewhere between the shock of the strike and the confusion after, he'd lost it. Dark was emerging, and she was tangled up with him in a pile of limbs. With a shriek she attempted to get her hands to his chest to try and pry herself loose, but it was pretty much impossible until they hit the bottom of the stairs.

There were two lucky strokes; Dark was dazed, and she wasn't hurt by the fall. Well, she didn't _think_ she was hurt. If she was anything besides bruised she'd probably notice later when she wasn't panicking.

Assuming she lived.

To that goal, she was on her feet as fast as she could manage it. From rage to terror, her mind was addled and thinking as impossible. All that was left was the most basic instinct; the need to run as fast as she could.

It wouldn't be fast enough. On her feet and pumping her arms, it was only moments later that a heavy weight hit her back and bowled her over. If the episode on the stairs hadn't been enough, she was once again spinning and falling, hitting the ground with strong arms locking around her shoulders from behind and preventing her from picking herself back up. No, he was on her, dragging her up as he rose up with her in custody. Eco came off of his skin in small sparks that felt like shocks of static electricity, making her shudder as Lyra attempted to respond. On reflex Loor reacted to resist her, yelling as she tried to force herself forward at the same time, her desperate cry echoing back at her from the stone walls.

She was on her knees, a creature that could rip her in two without a thought holding her in place with weight and strength, breathing on the back of her neck. What was he waiting for? If she didn't know better from watching other kills, she would say that Dark had a penchant for the dramatic... or maybe it was only when it came to her that he liked to toy with his victims.

She froze. Sensation caused her body to seize in surprise, almost disbelief, as she felt lips on the back of her neck. One of Dark's horns bumped against her ear as he found his way over to her shoulder, still breathing against her skin and growling in a way that almost sounded... _pleased. _It was a deep, rumbling sound that vibrated through him, almost as if the animal were trying to purr. His lips parted, and something happened that she simply thought was not possible.

He spoke. A single word, rough and terrible in a twisted voice that could be recognized as Jak's, but she knew far better. This voice spoke torture and dominance, violence and instinctive need. With one word, he froze the air in her lungs, a new wash of fear paralyzing her. Like a wolf who had somehow learned to speak as a man, his fangs brushed her skin as nothing more than a husky whisper reached her ear.

"_...soft." _

A second later, those fangs sank into her shoulder. There was no finesse to this, as the last time he'd laid teeth on her; this was a true bite that was meant to drive all the way in as he clamped his jaw on her. The pain finally forced a full scream to leave her, trying to shake him but unable to get an inch. It was no use; he probably wasn't even holding her with all he had. This was a creature that could rip through steel shackles and sheet metal; holding one little girl in place while he did whatever he liked was no sweat. Her nature wouldn't allow her to stop, though. Submission wasn't in her vocabulary.

_**Let me! **_

Lyra's plea came through her pain-addled mind, and desperation pushed her response. Dark was gathering energy; she could feel it, a burning ball of incredible power massing in his body and preparing for a sudden release. What was he doing? Even for her, this much energy in a single shot... It had to be his entire charge; weren't there easier ways to kill her? _Was_ he trying to kill her? All the violence she had seen of him screamed yes, but Jak had told her previously about _other_ goals the animal had in mind. Did those goals still exist?

_**Release me! I can push it back! **_

What if he was trying to scare Lyra out of her? The idea of losing control of her body, and what might be done with it while she was out, made her more sick and scared than she'd been before. Indecision; she had seconds before Dark did whatever it was he was going to do with all that energy.

_**Fool, I don't want to bed him, I want to kill him! I need to dominate him! **_

Sparks were hitting her again. The area around where he'd bitten into her stung with pins and needles; it was now or never.

_FINE! _

Loor was still screaming when she realized, through everything else, that something other than her had been holding Lyra back. She had a full charge too; by all means, the creature should have steamrolled her at the first sign of danger... but something else had been blocking her. Something that released when Loor gave the word; eco flooded her as if it had been contained and that container had just exploded. Like always she felt the transformation running through her; her body was changing, and her psyche would sink away for Lyra's active mind to take over.

_I won't sleep this time. _Loor resolved. She wanted to be awake as soon as this was over.

In the moment of transition, Dark's charge hit her. When it did, the unexpected happened, and Loor was still conscious to feel it. Even as eco caused her own body to ripple and change, and gave her enough strength to begin to pull free of him, she felt as if she were being drained. In one second Lyra had been about to burst to the surface, in the next the eco was gone and there was a burning sensation where Dark's fangs were still sunk into her shoulder.

The pain was blinding; she screwed her eyes shut as her lungs and throat gave out, no longer able to support her desperate need to scream. Instead she drew ragged breaths that were let out in attempted yelling that caused her to cough more often than not. Crackles of energy escaped into the air like a small lighting storm. Lyra's mind had given out; eco stolen from her and forcing her back into stasis, leaving Loor without even her own mind to cry out to for help.

What the _hell_ was happening?

All at once, the event stopped. The teeth were gone from her shoulder, though it still burned, but all the energy had been spent. Her body was released, and she at once scrambled forward while swinging a leg back at her assailant to try and gain ground. She needn't have bothered; the transformation was fading from Jak's body before she'd even managed to look. Black horns vanishing, talons sinking back into regular nails, and his hair and skin returning to their normal colors, all the proof she needed was there that Jak was back and Dark was spent.

In record time, she noted. Still panting, she sat on the floor as Jak's body collapsed onto the stones of the landing this little episode had taken place on.

Head still pounding with adrenaline, she craned her neck to look down at where Dark had bitten her, her fingers going to touch where the burn was finally starting to fade. Even when she twisted her head, the spot was a little close to her neck for her to see properly. Her fingers would have to give her the damage report.

Where she expected to find torn flesh and free-flowing blood, she instead found two small lumps and several smaller punctures that stung a little but weren't bleeding all that much. The smaller ones were all the rest of the teeth that didn't get much change during the transformation, but the lumps were where the fangs had been; the upper incisors that had ripped deep into her shoulder... and instead of blood or skin she felt... something rough.

Jak stirred on the floor, opening his mouth and spitting.

Oh. There was the blood. His mouth had been full of it, by the look of the amount he'd just spat out. Her hand flattened over her shoulder, covering the damage.

He groaned slightly, shaking his head and sitting up on the floor before looking around. In seconds he sighted her, noted the blood he'd just spat out again, and frowned. "What happened?"

"I hit you." She muttered, ducking her head and realizing the utter stupidity of the action. What she had done was not okay, regardless of how mad she'd been. Still, she couldn't let the conversation go there just yet when she knew what he was actually asking. It was what he always asked whenever she was in the danger zone while Dark was out. "He bit me."

He nodded slightly, eyes lingering on the hand that she was using to clutch her own shoulder now. "How bad?"

"He did something weird." She responded, leaning back when Jak moved as if he were going to come over and look at it. "Wait, aren't you mad at me? I just smacked you one."

"And I just tried to rip open your shoulder, apparently." He pointed out dryly. "I think we're even."

"Not you, him!" She growled; she hated it when he addressed himself and the animal as one in the same. "Always him. You've never laid a finger on me, and I just gave you four good knuckles with a thumb tucked in. Don't tell me this is one of those cases where it's okay because I'm a girl, because I don't buy that shit. I did something out of rage; you don't get to be the guilty one in this equation!"

He gave her a look that said he couldn't believe she was standing on her soapbox on a time like this, hefting a sigh and rolling her eyes when she didn't relax out of her own posture. "Fine, I'm mad." He said in an exhausted tone. "Can I look at your shoulder now?"

She almost felt like pouting. All the stuff he went through to get her back to this time and in one piece, and her first action is to whack him... and he has no fucks to give. Worse; she'd triggered him into a transformation. Now that there was no longer fear pounding through her brain, she did indeed feel horribly guilty. She shouldn't have hit him, and now he was all worried over a problem _she_ had caused. She was zero-for-two and headed for the strike-out. With all that in mind, though, she decided it would be best to be co-operative. She let her hand slide away, turning her head to the right to further expose where Dark had bitten her on her left shoulder.

"What the...?" Jak came close now, the two of them still sitting on the sandstone floor as he reached out to touch.

"It's too close to my neck; I can't even see it." She pointed out. "What... what did he do? I felt him gathering energy for some kind of strike, and then it all hit where he was biting me, and he somehow sapped me in the process."

She could feel it when he poked at the two rough spots she'd found before. It almost felt as if the fangs were still buried in her shoulder, like he'd left them behind somehow. Unlikely; she doubted Dark could just give up a tooth like that without the gaps showing up in Jak's teeth. She also doubted the animal would even want to do something like that. Anyway, the spots hadn't feet like the roots of any tooth. They'd felt faceted, almost like...

"Crystals." Jak sounded like he'd been overtaken with surprise. "Two tiny eco crystals, where he bit you."

"_What?!" _Her head snapped around, nearly nose-to-nose as he looked up at her. "You've gotta be joking; why would he even do that?!"

Jak's face went hard as he backed off a little, looking down. "You do remember what happened last time, right? When I had to show him to you... when you didn't remember..."

"Yeah." She agreed, nodding. "And he... put his fangs on my neck. He proved dominance. Lyra's _still_ pissed about it; wants his head on a platter. Willing to kill you to do it, since it's the only way to get rid of him." She had her hand covering the bite again, fingering the two little nubs that stuck in her skin. There was no denying that they were buzzing with energy; she just hadn't noticed before because the burn was too severe. That pain was fading fast though, leaving her with the sensation of having two little eco-batteries attached to her person. Why would he give up his whole charge to do this? Hell, he _stole_ hers. If Dark wanted something to play with, she imagined Lyra would be more fun that she'd ever be.

Jak looked uncomfortable with the fact that she wasn't putting it together, forcing him to say it. "He kinda... thinks you sorta belong to him now..."

She blanched. Way past disturbed, but finally getting what was going on, her brain got to work. "It wasn't just you who lost me when I went under... you woulda needed his co-operation to wake me up in the first place. He's an incomplete persona, he doesn't actually _care, _per-say. He doesn't have the capacity to, but he's decided that he doesn't want any more accidents to happen..." Her fingers continued to worry the crystals in her shoulder. "It's a preventative measure. Jak, I'm zeroed out. I don't feel any eco in my system, at all... but nothing is shutting down. I'm okay. I feel fine. Awesome, actually." She laughed a little, discovery giving her the same exhilaration it always did. "He had to gamble with my life to do it, but... holy shit... I'm not dying. It's a safety net..." She trailed off, looking at Jak suspiciously. "How the fuck did _he_ think this up?"

It looked as if Jak were going to offer a helpless shrug, but he stopped before completing the action. "Shit, the new thing... it might have been his idea."

"New thing?" Loor cocked her head to one side as she finally made a move to stand up off of the floor. "What new thing?"

"Do... you remember that?" He asked, following suit and gesturing down to the next set of stairs beyond the landing. They were closer to the top but going up required more effort. He'd rather go down and go through the warp gate. "We went through here, found those eco vents, listened in on a conversation between Seem and Veger-"

"And then that precursor oracle." She cut him off, blinking as they began walking. "I remember it being kinda sassy to Daxter, which was weird... Oracle statues are usually so regal and do all the mythic talk. Then the light... and then... I think I was dreaming? I woke up back up on the surface, but Lyra was there... she was leading me through the temple to the water, and then there was something else on the other side of the water. Hall ways and such, and this freaky room like some kind of lab... then... damn it, I think there was someone else, but I never saw them. Next thing I knew, I was up by the water again and you were saying my name. My old name. I felt like a computer that had just done a full re-boot. Everything was blank for a second, and I had to remind myself who I was and where I'd come from. Then it all came back."

"I found you down here." Jak offered. "With your head on the light eco vent. He... the new thing, told me you'd heal, but you'd need more energy."

"Healing, huh?" Loor mused. Then, blinking, she felt the skin around the recent addition to her person. "Hey, the rest of the bite is gone! Dark bit me hard, there were other marks from the other teeth, but they're gone now... it's only been a little while..." She shook her head, mystified.

"The cut on your face from yesterday, too." Jak pointed out. "And here's betting you don't feel sick anymore."

She stopped, having not realized it with everything _else_ that was going on. She felt like a new person, getting her mind back. Putting everything together had her spinning in circles. "Holy _shit._ Can new stuff stop happening for ten seconds? I need to catch up. I've been... extremely stupid in the last couple months, and now I've gotta go over everything with a fine-toothed comb to figure out what I've missed. I do a hard re-set, Dark makes a high-eco addition to my person, apparently there might be a new guy to deal with in my head and oh won't _that_ be fun, and on top of all that here's betting Artimus is gonna call us any frigging second now to tell us our number is up in the arena and-" She choked on her own voice. "Oh hell. Fuck, fuck, _fucking_ hell."

Jak blinked, actually looking worried this time as she swore. Such eloquence usually meant something they both had to worry about her, not just her. "What?"

"Artimus!" She crowed at him. "The dude with the mask, whatever you wanna call him! He's supposed to be _dead. _Fury told me herself; he tried to help her escape and she changed for the first time; when she came around he was ripped to pieces. He pulls me aside and asks me what happened to my sister back when I don't fucking remember, and-" She snorted, getting a move on again and taking it double-time. "Son of a _bitch. _I heard about Seem too. Artimus fucking said it; said that Seem was making sure Veger didn't know he was still alive. I should have noticed that! Loor, you are a _dope._"

Moving down the stairs so quickly was dangerous, but she'd already taken one tumble and lived. Her desire to get back to Spargus and set a few things to rights had her moving as fast as she could. How was Artimus still alive? Fury hadn't lied; she had honestly thought she'd killed the man. Ryan had also reported to her that Artimus was dead-

_Fuck! Ryan, what the hell is **he** doing out here?! And if he's here, where the hell is Morgan? That blond powder-puff is going to get a piece of my mind-!_

Her thoughts were cut off when she found Jak had caught up with her and stopped her. He had her shoulders, arresting her progress and shoving her back against a wall. "Before we go running off..." He panted. She was breathing hard too; she'd been booking. "To go and set the _world_ straight... you _did_ hit me, and I _would_ like to know why."

She blinked a couple times, brought back to where she'd been when he'd first come out of it, only she was on the other end of it. Her guilt came back to her, bowing her head a little. "I'm sorry, for what it's worth..." She mumbled. "I just... you didn't tell me. I didn't remember anything... I thought I belonged. For those months... I thought I was supposed to be here... and you knew better. I've been talking back, acting on my own initiative, when I should be keeping my head down and leaving events to _your_ discretion... I was mad... I shouldn't have... b-but I just felt..."

"Loor, shut up."

She stared at him. He was blunt, almost harsh. The look on his face was the same... until a small smile tugged at the corner of his lips.

"Don't you get it?" He asked. "You _do_ belong now."

* * *

><p><strong>The Author's Corner<strong>

MEOW.

Oh my god Loor's brain is a mess and so is this chapter. Fuck.

MOVING ON.

-Loor


	44. Rescue Gone Wrong

**I don't own Jak and Daxter. I just write a metric fuck-ton of fanfiction. **

**Vacation or War-Endgame  
><strong>**Chapter Forty Four-Rescue Gone Wrong**

"Wait, the dude with the mask is supposed to be dead?!"

Jak nodded as Daxter crowed his surprise over the whipping wind, the trio on their way back to Spargus. The Dune Hopper had been exactly where they left it, and Loor had given up her turn at driving to bring Daxter up to speed on the condition of her brain, as well as her list of people she wanted to find and talk to when they got back. It felt good for her to articulate her plans and mental discoveries; she remembered things better after she had spoken them aloud. She could just as easily forget something she'd read or heard, but speaking words cemented them in her mind. "Yeah." She said. "Guy by the name of Artimus. One of the KG involved in the Baron's science project back in Haven... though I'm beginning to think he might have been involved with Veger too. He mentioned that Veger had another project going on; one Chelsea had been slated for before I went in and... reacted the way I did."

"I don't like that." Daxter frowned, clinging to Jak's headrest. "Praxis had all the wrong kinds of crazy running his science department! Errol was looney enough, but Veger heading up a project too? Yikes."

"What's our beat on Artimus?" Jak asked. "Should we trust him?"

"By all accounts, he died trying to save Fury." Loor sighed, shaking her head and thinking. "... he's hiding out here. And, by his own account, we sorta owe him our lives. He was banished because his orders from Veger were to kill all subjects in the Dark Warrior Program, and instead he tried to save one of us and run. I just wanna know the the fuck he survived an encounter with Serenity."

"Serenity?" Daxter asked. Jak looked lost too.

"What Fury called... her dark side. The monster." Loor bit her lip on the memory; it was one of the many she'd gotten back. It had been right before Chelsea had died again; she'd woken up from a coma-like state, babbling about what she'd done to Artimus and crying about the monster in her head. It was the only time Loor had heard the name, but like any other name she wanted to remember she had repeated it right after to keep it in her mind. "I only saw it once; when we escaped."

"You gotta tell us both that story sometime, toots." Daxter snickered. "Now that you remember it again and you're not drooling into the sand."

"I don't drool!" She snapped at the ottsel; Daxter had been overjoyed that she was okay, but he kept making jokes about the time she'd spent as a vegetable. "And we're getting off-point. How does someone get ripped limb from limb and live?"

"Maybe they stitched 'em back together?" Daxter suggested. "Seems to work for those nasties in the arena."

"I somehow doubt that would work. Or, if it did, he'd be just like those guys." She shook her head, frowning. "There's more to this; there has to be. I also need to talk to Ryan. The fact that he's here means-"

"He's already talked with me." Jak hopped in. "I told him about what happened back in Haven. He told me about him being from your time, though he's still under the impression that it's another world. Dax eavesdropped." Jak then gave Loor a look as they made their approach on the city. "That's all I need to know right now. You guys need to talk alone, just say the word and me an' Dax'll go somewhere else."

"Hey!" Daxter was indignant. "I didn't even know you guys were sick until I listened in on that little conversation. You two keep leavin' me outta the loop."

"Sorry neither of us wanted to tell you we were dying?" Loor rolled her eyes. "With everything else going on, it just seemed like needless worry-fodder."

"Loor, babe, look who you're talking to. Worrying ain't my gig. I poke and prod until I get a smile, and we all keep going down our merry little way." He grinned. "Of course, you two haven't exactly needed my _help_ lately. I suppose when you're dyin' it's easier to express yourself without fearin' the consequences... even when you _don't_ have the room to yourself."

"_Dax!" _Both teenagers protested the ottsel's teasing, Loor turning quite red. Jak knew that the ottsel had been awake during their last... 'moment' at Ryan's place, but Loor had not been aware.

"You little lech!" The girl looked embarrassed, but she was giggling at the same time, reaching out to give Daxter a playful whack. "You were awake? Why didn't you say something? Jeez!"

"It looked like you guys were enjoying yourselves. It's rude to deprive a lady." He winked at her, dodging her strike by scrambling over to Jak's far shoulder. "Not to mention, free entertainment is the last thing I'm gonna say no to."

She hefted a sigh with a roll of her eyes, deciding to let it go as the gates to Spargus opened for them, the Dune Hopper bouncing over the stone threshold of the massive doors. "So... we spent the night out there. What are we supposed to do now? Report in?" She asked as Jak parked the vehicle in one of the open spots. At a glance Loor noticed that a few of the other vehicles were currently missing. "Looks like we're not the only ones gambling with that wind. I wouldn't be surprised if it developed into a full sand storm; people must be sweeping for artifacts." She'd unhooked her seat belt, standing up in the vehicle and stretching before climbing down. So far, she liked the Dune Hopper best... if only because it had secure restraints.

"Wouldn't be surprised..." Daxter muttered as Jak followed suit, the two of them pushing their goggles up and tugging their scarves down away from their faces. "Buncha crazy blowhards is what these people are..."

"And we're trying to join the clan." Loor pointed out shortly before yelping in surprise as she felt something in the pouch on her belt vibrate. It took her a moment to remember that she _did_ have a communicator; someone was contacting her. Pulling it out, she was actually surprised when she didn't hear Daxter laughing at her... until she noticed that Jak was getting hit too; someone was trying to get a hold of both of them. Saving the confusion for later, they both answered their devices.

"_Attention all people of Spargus! A large storm is heading our way, prepare the city!" _The same message came through both their devices; the voice that spoke was none other than Damas himself. _"All able drivers are to report to me immediately! Repeat, all able drivers not involved in securing the city are to report directly to me!" _

"Great timing." Loor muttered as Damas began repeating himself; it took a small community when the king himself did the emergence broadcasts. "Looks like it's gonna get a lot uglier out there. Are we feeling able?"

"You bet we are." Jak nodded, moving for the door to head back into the city.

The trek from the front gate to the lift was a short one; Damas's throne room was at the top. Loor hadn't seen this place since she and Jak had originally been taken into the city, and it was exactly the same as it had been then. Fountains, pools of water, sandstone, and a grand window behind Damas's simple stone throne. Upon arrival the sand king was still repeating his message into his own personal communicator, ending his announcement as the lift hit the top of its path with a bump.

Loor had thought someone else might have been around, but she very quickly realized two things; veteran wastelanders probably all had jobs within the city in the event of a major storm threatening their home, and there had been multiple vehicles missing from the garage... other people with vehicle skills were out there, without protection, in the path of an incoming sand storm. She and Jak were newbies; greenhorns who didn't even have full citizenship yet... and the only ones who weren't otherwise obligated in this crisis.

_Son of a..._ Her mind told her to bail out; to tuck herself behind Jak as he approached Damas, but she knew she couldn't. Her previous behavior had been... uncensored. She'd been herself, trying to prove herself worth her salt out here, trying to gain respect, and trying to learn how to survive. All great things... for someone who actually fit into the time line. If she suddenly changed aspects, Damas would notice and assume she'd lost her grit... which had potentially dangerous consequences. The last thing she wanted was for the sand king to take her aside and give her a stern talking-to and possibly a solo-mission to prove she was still worthy. Against her own better judgment she stepped out at Jak's side.

"Jak, Loor," The king actually looked somewhat relieved that _someone_ had showed up. "There are four wastelanders out there who still have not reported in. I want you two to go out and find them; there are armored transports out there that will protect them from the storm until it is over. Do whatever it takes to bring them back!"

"How are we going to find them?" Jak was the first to question this time, and rightfully so. It was an important question to ask.

"Any vehicle with a map has been keyed to pick up the locational signals of our communicators." Damas answered simply.

"How long till the worst hits?" Loor saw fit to ask; Damas's orders had been quick and to the point, but she had already decided being herself was actually safer for once. And, to that end, she wanted to know how much time they had.

"The storm will be deadly within the hour." He responded as if he'd expected the question. "It will take less time for it to be just as deadly to the engine of a vehicle."

"Let's move." Jak added, as if the point hadn't already been made without Damas saying it himself. Loor nodded, the two of them heading back to the lift and tracing the same path they'd just walked back to the garage. Loor noted the city along the way; people were scrambling through the streets in preparation for the storm. Apparently everyone had something to do before it hit... She and Jak were just doing their part. As long as she didn't fuck anything up, there was no harm in her participating.

_I haven't done any harm, as far as I've felt... _She mused to herself as she and Jak passed into the garage and split up. Of the vehicles left in the garage, both the Dune Hopper and the Sand Shark were present. Jak went for the Hopper; she was yet to drive it. The Shark, on the other hand, she had handled before. Getting in and adjusting her goggles and scarf to once again protect her face, it was time for another romp in the sandbox.

She'd ponder things later. There was just too much on her mind to think about it all right now; she'd wait until she finally got ten seconds to herself before beginning to sort everything out. Right now, as Jak backed up his vehicle to line up with the monster doors to the outside, there were more important things to consider. Right now there were four people, four lives, waiting for some kind of rescue. A little coordination between her and Jak and everyone would get to go home tonight in one piece. _That_ was what mattered right now. Everything else was just goop.

The doors were open. Jak blasted out, and she was right behind him, diving into the storm.

* * *

><p>Three of the four wastelanders had been pretty close to the armored vehicle that made its way through the desert, conducting its own search on treads that moved at a speed that even a sloth would consider slow. Jak had gone for two signals that had been coming from high places; places the Dune Hopper didn't have issues going. Loor, following her own map, went first for the odd-signal-out that was easier for her to get to.<p>

The visibility was getting worse all the time; like yellow pea soup. Her face was protected, but the ever-accelerating grains of sand were wearing at every inch of exposed skin on her arms and hands, as well as her ears. Trying to ignore the sting of the sandblasting treatment, she drove as fast as she dared while fearing every shadow that didn't reveal itself to be a cactus within the first few seconds of her being able to see it. All it would take would be a head-on collision with a big rock and she'd be done, as would be the wastelander she was searching for.

Thankfully, the only big rock she found was the one her target was hiding behind to get out of the wind, and she slowed down long before she got to it. She'd gotten within a few feet of him, shouting to get his attention and waving on top of that. He was a big guy, all straps and scraps of armor, clutching a gun to match in heft and size. In a second he was out from his cover, leaning against the wind while diving for the passenger seat, dragging himself in. "Go, go, go!" He shouted, indicating another blip on her radar as he got on board. "We need to get to the bunker!"

Cranking the wheel in response and taking off again, Loor didn't see this as a time for conversation. She stayed focused on the path in front of her, glancing down at the map now and again to adjust for the ups and downs in the terrain while trying to get to the bunker as fast as she could. Again; fast was dangerous because of the visibility, but going slow wasted valuable time. That _last_ thing she needed now was an accident after finally getting everything back together again.

She needed to thank Jak. He did all the work, and she hadn't even thought to show gratitude. _Later._ She resolved. _Whole lotta shit I gotta do later. _

"Hey, you're a newbie, aren't you?" Asked the wastelander in the passenger seat. "Tense as hell behind the wheel, you're makin' me nervous!"

She grunted slightly, not daring to look at him. This was not the time to have a stupid driving blunder. The bunker wasn't far now; just one more rise according to her map. "Am I supposed to be having fun?" Her tone was blunt. She couldn't believe this guy was trying to talk to her right now.

"Don't have to be." He admitted as they hit the top of the rise. Through the storm she could see the square shadow of a vehicle; the bunker. She gunned it. "But your heart is gonna fail you long before anything actually _gets_ you out here if you don't relax."

"This coming from a veteran, I assume?" She let the clutch go back into neutral, putting her hand on the E-brake while carefully figuring speed and distance.

"Been here longer than Damas." The guy actually laughed while she pulled the lever, the vehicle sliding sideways in the sand just behind the tank-like vehicle. "Not bad; good luck on the others!" He shouted while getting out quickly; waving her to get moving while he muscled his way against the wind to get on board.

She didn't need that much encouragement, looking at her map again. Looked like Jak had beaten her to the bunker with his first rescue, well on his way to his second target. That left her with the forth and final marker on the map; the one that was furthest away. She didn't think twice about it, though part of her wanted to pull out her comm. unit and let him know she was heading for the last one. She didn't trust herself to multitask though, and he had to keep his focus too.

With her foot to the floor, she aimed to wrap this up quickly. Get the last wastelander, get him to the bunker, and get back to Spargus. Simple as that. Her vehicle didn't seem to be having any problem with the whether yet, and while her skin felt raw she wasn't actually getting ripped up. By all markers, they were making good time.

As she made the journey to the last blip on her map, she actually felt some mild positivity. Maybe that other guy had been right; she was too tense. Sure, lives were depending on her and Jak doing well, but that didn't mean she _had_ to be freaking out.

For a moment she felt a smile crawling onto her face.

A moment later it was gone. Something had just crossed her senses that made her tense up again; eco. She felt as if an aggressive burst had just hit her, and a glance at her map told her the direction in which she felt it was the same way she was going to try and make her second rescue. Ugly coincidences usually led to ugly situations, as far as her experience could tell her. Not far from her destination, she finally gave in and yanked her comm. unit out of her belt pouch, opening contact with Jak.

"_What's up?" _His voice came loud and clear, as did the concern in it. Did he just instantly assume she was in trouble?

Granted, with her track record...

"I'm almost on the last one, but... you should make your way over here too. Something doesn't feel right."

"_Right behind you; watch yourself." _His response was quick and without question. At least her gut-feelings had a good track record.

On the other hand, she was a couple minutes ahead of him. Whatever she was having a gut-feeling about, she was going to get to it first. Dark eco never meant anything good, though. It was very possible that her final rescue was about to be complicated, or already had been.

Coming down the side of a dune and getting close enough to see through the sand, she squinted. There was no cover in the area she was approaching; nothing to hide behind and get out of the wind. No rocks, no cacti, nothing. Just a wide expanse of desert sand. Why would someone await rescue here? Getting closer, she had to slow down. She saw a figure, but it didn't strike her as a wastelander's form. No; someone was standing out there but they were far too small. He... no, _she_ wore no armor against the ripping wind. It didn't seem to bother her. She stood tall, straight, little more than a solitary shadow in this storm.

Below her, laying on the ground, was another shape. Bulky; the wastelander?

Loor stopped her vehicle a few yards away, she was almost afraid to get too close as her sense for eco intensified. It took her a moment, but she _did_ recognize the level of concentration; there was a dark eco crystal nearby. Instinct made her leave the vehicle behind; the last time she'd seen a dark eco crystal it had been delivered by a mechanical monstrosity that could do a number on car if it were even half-functional, and this was the _wrong_ time to get stranded. Leaning against the wind and digging her feet in to run, she shouted out to the solitary figure standing out there. Whoever she was, she might've been in danger.

Running full-tilt, she hadn't been expecting to be bowled over. Loor yelped as the woman suddenly moved. She had seen no more than a flicker, a sudden jerk into action, but it was a second later that Loor was flat on her back with this person on top of her.

The feeling of the eco crystal had covered up another source of eco. The realization hit Loor when she finally got a clear look at the girl she and spied through the sand; this woman was not human.

At least, not anymore.

A cloth covered her face, keeping the sand out of her mouth and nose, but all Loor had to see were the creature's eyes to know exactly what it was. Black eyes surrounded by white skin; she never thought she'd see another besides Jak with such eyes, but she knew better than to doubt her senses. She could see the eyes, the skin, the long banner of silver hair that the wind blew ruthlessly around a set of black horns. She could feel a jolt of dark eco passing through her when this creature pounced her, driving her into the sand with the force of a truck.

Another feeling drove it all home.

Pain.

Her breath had caught in her throat, looking down and finding five black talons pushed into the soft of her stomach. As she stared the animal on top of her growled softly, pushing even harder until the first digit of each finger also vanished, blood welling up and staining Loor's sand-colored shirt.

"W-wha..." She looked up again, not quite getting what just happened. Where had this creature come from? Why was it here?

The animal's other hand clutched a rounded piece of precursor bronze; the dark eco crystal shined from its setting.

With a snarl the animal ripped its talons free of Loor's body, turning to vanish into the storm.

* * *

><p><strong>The Author's Corner<strong>

Jeez, Loor just can't get a break, huh?

ONWARD!

-Loor


	45. Walking Dead

**I do not own Jak and Daxter. Does anyone know when this property becomes public domain? Really need to look up the rules on that. **

**Vacation or War-Endgame  
><strong>**Chapter Forty Five-Walking Dead**

For a moment Loor was sure she was slipping into shock. Her body felt numb, cold, and she had to force herself to breathe. What had just happened to her? She had gone from being on a rescue mission to being suddenly assailed by a dark eco creature wearing a woman's form. Her guts had been scrambled, ripped and mixed by five talons that had probably run her through to her back. Warm and slick blood covered her stomach and seeped into her clothes, pumping out faster than she thought possible.

Who had that creature been? What human life had been lost for it to gain freedom?

She was getting colder. Even as she laid out on the sand she felt as if her body were turning to ice. Her body had abandoned pain as the edges of her vision darkened; this was bad. Was she going under?

"No..." She muttered to herself, shaking her head and concentrating on breathing. Her lungs were fine, she could breathe deeply and clearly. She had to focus on that and keep herself from slipping into shock. There was still a wastelander laying in the sand, like her, a mere few yards away. What if he was still alive? What if the creature she'd just encountered had ripped both of them and ran off with that eco crystal? She may have been wounded, but she was far from dead. Jak was on his way. She remembered that; she'd called for him to back her up right before she arrived. He would be here soon.

Her vision was clearing. Her limbs, though they still felt cold and leaden, were willing to move. She pressed one hand to her stomach, bunching up her shirt in her hand and pressing it hard. Pressure. It was good to keep pressure on wounds, right? The second she did a fresh flash of pain ran through her, a short yelp coming out of her efforts as her attempts at steady breathing became desperate sucks of air through her scarf.

What was she thinking? These were puncture wounds with internal bleeding. Pressure wasn't going to do that much in the line of helping her. And yet, even as she thought these things, she felt as if some of her pain were being eased from the inside.

A different chill was welling up in her person; a soothing cool replacing her pain and making it seem to her as if time had stopped. Something was happening to her, and she hadn't a clue what it was... all she knew is that the pain was driven away.

A moment later she found herself upright, kneeling in the sand with her hand still pressed to her stomach. Her fingers were still covered with blood, her shirt and upper hem of her pants still stained with it, but everything else was suddenly gone. The numbness, the cold, the disconnected sensation that had her fearing loss of consciousness; all of it was gone. She felt fine.

There was no time to think about it; if her body was telling her that she was okay to get up then she was going to get up. On her feet again she ran to the wastelander that laid sprawled out on the ground, hopeful that he might have been alright.

Those hopes were dashed; the body was still warm, but his wounds were obvious and grievous. His breastplate had been ripped open as if it were a paper cover. Five points had been carved out of his chest, not dissimilar to the ones that had been dug into her stomach... With broken ribs visible through the flesh. More cuts were on his right arm and hand; he must have been the one who found the eco crystal in the first place. The animal had killed him for it, and even if she hadn't the eco crystal itself probably would have poisoned him beyond help soon enough. It was too late for this man.

Still, Damas had ordered for all four of them to be brought home. She'd rather drag a corpse back to Spargus than leave it out here for the metal heads to find and scavenge. With that thought she swept her hand over the man's face to close his still-open eyes and gripped him around the shoulders, beginning to pull him across the sand and back to her vehicle. It wasn't easy; he was dead weight wrapped in armor, but with enough effort he began to move.

After a few feet of progress, the sand that had been under the man's original resting place shifted in a great wave. She looked up, alarms going off in her head as all she could think was; _What now?!_

The answer had been the thing she'd expected in the first place, when she first felt the eco crystal's energy; a dark satellite. It had been buried in the sand like a snake hiding and waiting to strike. Its dark bulk rose into the air now, looking to be fully functional if she had to guess... and hostile.

"Loor!"

Her head turned suddenly when her name was shouted at her; Jak had arrived. Like her he had abandoned his vehicle a little ways away, sprinting forward with his weapon drawn and his focus on the dark satellite that was now bearing down on his partner. There were no questions to be asked, just orders to be given.

"Get out of here!" He shouted at her. "Me an' Dax will deal with this thing!"

She glanced back at the machine. It was huge. She wanted to argue, but Jak was already rushing in and shooting. He thought he had it handled... or he thought if he didn't, at least she'd get away.

She didn't like that, but she continued dragging her burden back to her vehicle while keeping her head up to watch the battle. The mechanical monstrosity was adsorbing bullets and not seeming to be effected, the long tail-like part of its body hanging down and swinging in wide motions with enough force to flip a car. Jak's reflexes were saving him for the moment, but he needed a better way to do damage to that thing. They didn't have the time to waste fighting it. If the storm got bad enough their vehicle wouldn't function, and they'd be stuck out here to have their bones stripped by the storm.

Getting back to her vehicle, Loor looked down at the body she'd just hauled. The wastelander was dead, no doubt about that, but he was also armored and armed. Only his breastplate had been ripped through, the rest of him left mostly untouched.

Strapped to his back was a weapon that reminded her of Sig's peacemaker; a heavy thing held on by an equally heavy-duty holster. Without thinking about respect she rolled the guy over to get a better look at what he had. If she could use it, she could help. She wasn't going to leave Jak to fight on his own; this adventure may not have been the place she was meant to exist, but it was where she existed _now. _

The thing on the dead wastelander's back was heavier than she first thought, getting it loose from its straps and hefting it up into her hands. The stock had a curve in it that she settled onto her shoulder; it felt right as she searched for a trigger, finding the front end of the stock split into three sections. One was a mechanism that led to the gun-head, a rounded piece that she'd give closer examination later. The other two, which had originally appeared to be part of the stock, folded down as handles with red triggers on the inside. Clear safeties had to be slid off of them before she could press them down.

She looked up again. Jak was still dodging around the airborne enemy. Was he even hurting it? She hadn't a clue. All she knew is that the big bit looked to be the important part. She'd aim for that, aiming the shoulder-canon of a weapon as best she could in the short time she had to learn how it worked. Her thumbs slid the safety covers out of the way once she thought she had it, taking a wide stance to steady against some kind of kick. She had no idea if this beast _had_ a kick, but it was better safe than sorry.

Pressing the triggers, she heard energy moving through the thing settled on her shoulder and, by proxy, next to her head. In seconds a blue glow had built up within the gun head, sparks snapping in the air as the handles vibrated in her hands.

All she could do was pray that this was super-effective.

Letting go of the triggers, the shot flew. So did she; despite being braced the kick of this weapon _still _threw her onto her ass, making her yell as her shoulder was painfully jerked with the force. Somehow she managed to keep her grip on the gun itself, though she let it go when she hit the sand and let it slip off of her shoulder in favor of sitting up as fast as she could to see what she'd just done.

The blue sparks had reminded her, again, of the peacemaker. When she looked up she expected to see her shot flying in a corkscrew, but she was surprised to see the shot she'd fired was not only going straight, it was bright yellow at its core. Able to gape at it for less than a second, the impact stupefied her when the shot plowed into the dark satellite and knocked it out of the air. The blue sparks on the outside edges of the shot spread over the surface of the creature-machine, a clear squeal sounding that reminded Loor that the thing was at least somewhat alive.

For the moment.

The shot she fired detonated before the monster hit the ground, the yellow core exploding after being embedded in the armor of the satellite. The first part may have stunned and hurt it, but she saw a chunk of it suddenly crack open before she had to turn away and hide her eyes from the light, the sound of the burst making her ears ring. She'd caught a glimpse of Jak turning to run from it. She imagined he was going to have more than a few words for her once they got back to the city.

For the moment though, it would seem the move she had just pulled had killed it. It certainly wasn't moving anymore. Jak looked up at her; his face was completely covered between his goggles and his scarf, but she still got the definite feeling that he was giving her a _look. _Shrugging slightly, she turned her attention to folding up the shoulder-canon she'd just used and getting its original owner into the passenger seat of the Sand Shark. Jak and Daxter were almost back to the Dune Hopper by the time that she was back in the driver's seat and revving to go; they needed to get back to the city.

She'd explain herself once they were safely behind walls.

* * *

><p>"What the heck was that?!" Daxter demanded before the big door between them and the outside closed. The storm was getting worse by the moment, but they had made it back in time. Ending up parked side-by-side, Loor just leaned back in her seat after shutting off the engine, slowly lifting her goggles and tugging her scarf down while breathing clean air. She'd spent half the trip keeping her deceased tag-along in the vehicle with one hand, and tense was the word.<p>

On the other hand, both the boys wanted information. Daxter had just been the first to burst.

"Where'd you find a weapon like that?" Jak was the next to ask. Cracking one eye open she could see him dismounting the Dune Hopper to come over to her.

She jerked her thumb at her passenger. "That guy." Her answer was simple and reflected exhaustion. "He ain't using it anymore... found him already dead... had a close encounter with what killed him." With that she lifted her head, looking down at her stomach and pulling up her shirt. The holes in the fabric were still there from when she'd been struck, but there was almost no evidence of the fact that she had been mortally wounded. All that remained were five tiny scars that were almost unnoticeable. "What the...?" She knew something had happened that had made her feel better, but she hadn't expected to find herself _that_ perfectly fine. "That thing tried to pull my guts out..."

"Healing." Jak said quickly, now crouching down next to her. He'd cleared his own face of his effects, aqua eyes scanning the bare skin she was showing. "Surprised there's even a scar... though you've still got scars from when Dark gored you back in Haven... just as light, too." He pointed briefly to another set of extremely light marks. At any other time Loor would have missed them, only seeing them because he had pointed them out.

Still, she focused on the first thing he said. "Healing? Something to do with the new thing, huh?" She started messing with her shirt now, one of her hands under the stained fabric and sticking her index finger through one of the holes that had been ripped during the attack. Whatever had happened at the precursor temple had saved more than her brain, it seemed. "First my head, now this." She chuckled. "Don't I feel like one lucky sonofabitch." She then looked over to the dead guy she was riding with. "Not so lucky for him though..." She huffed, leaning forward and trying to get it back together. She didn't have time to be exhausted. "What killed him..." She turned and looked to her partners. "Jak, it was another one like us. A woman. Her face was covered up, I have no idea who she used to be, but..." She shook her head. "Black eyes, white skin, horns, silver hair. She had a dark eco crystal; my guess is she found it on my friend over here and ripped him open over it."

"Wastelander out on the desert, looking for artifacts before the storm gets too bad, finds an eco crystal, eco starts messing him up before he even knows what he's picked up, and..." Daxter cringed, trailing off in his summary of events. "Gets his heart ripped out by a nasty."

"Donno if she actually tore out his heart..." Loor looked over at the dead body. For some reason it didn't disgust her as much as it should have. Maybe she was getting used to this. "Sure as hell tried though. Got a couple of ribs... she must have been in a rush to get out of the light. Lyra complains about that; she hates anything brighter than a candle, says it hurts. If that animal had spent any more time with me, I'm pretty sure even these new powers from the precursors wouldn't have saved my ass." With that she found herself relaxed back into her seat again. She didn't want to get up. It wasn't even noon yet and she was _so_ done with this day. "So, what now?"

"Find one of the monks?" Jak suggested dumbly. "I donno what they do with the dead, but we should probably tell _someone_ that one of these guys didn't come home alright."

"We figured as much when we saw the extra signal riding back with you." A voice spoke behind them. Eyes turned to see the door to the city had opened up, allowing none other than the masked man, Artimus, to enter. He was flanked by Seem and several other monks. Artimus was the one who had spoken, his voice as calm and even as ever, so long as he was behind that mask of leather and bronze.

"We will take care of him." Seem announced, stepping in front of Artimus once the entourage was through the door. "If you desire to relieve any equipment from him, take it now."

Loor blinked. Artimus had taken her focus, reminded once again that he was someone she needed to talk to in her desperation to know what the hell was _actually_ going on out here. Still, Seem's words hit her and caused some confusion. "Wha-? Shouldn't his stuff go to someone who knows him?"

"Wastelander rights." Artimus reminded. "You got there first. Not to mention very few of us have any next-of-kin. It's more likely his weapons and armor will be cycled into the arena as prizes."

"Take the boom-stick." Daxter encouraged her, the explanation more than enough for him. "You could use some heavy artillery, sweets."

She felt color flushing her face; everyone's attention was on her since Jak wasn't making a move to loot the body for anything. Guy had his morph gun; unless the corpse had a mod on it he wasn't interested. As far as the armor went the man was much bigger than both of them, none of it would fit properly.

Letting out a tense sigh, she nodded and reached over to relieve the body of the holster for the heavy gun. It was nearly exactly the same system of straps she currently wore for her stave, just thicker straps for the heavier load and a different shape of sheath to hold a different kind of weapon. She wondered how she was going to carry her regular melee weapon if she switched up for this thing, but she'd ponder such things when she didn't have the attention of Seem, Artimus, and several stranger-monks whom she would likely never learn the names of.

With that taken care of she backed off, getting out of the vehicle and the monks moving to retrieve the body.

"What did this?" Seem asked as Loor negotiated holding both the gun and its holster in her arms at the moment, clutching them to her chest.

Loor knew for a fact that Seem wasn't going to like the answer to that question. Seem didn't like the fact that she and Jak existed. The idea of another creature like them, living free out in the wastes... Still, it was better that the danger was known. "A... someone like me and Jak. It was... an animal at the time. It attacked the wastelander first, then tried to go after me."

Loor had expected some sort of smug response from Seem for that admittance, something about animals trying to kill each other, to try and make a point about how terrible it was that she and Jak were in the city. Instead, to her surprise, Seem's eyes widened while a frown deepened on her face. "I will report this information to Damas." She said after a pause. "You may go."

"There was a crystal." Loor spoke suddenly, complete disclosure seeming to be fair. "It... took it. Ran off with it after it attacked me."

Seem only nodded, waving them off without answering. Loor slowly started walking backwards, turning around when she bumped into Jak and he took her shoulders to point her in the right direction to go inside. He leaned in as he did, muttering "Didn't you want to talk to Artimus?"

"Later." She answered in an equally hushed tone. "I know when and where to find him alone..."

"Nice." Daxter's own whisper was louder than theirs, but they were upon the door and through it before he'd even spoken. She wasn't worried about the ottsel tipping anything off.

"I should probably talk to him alone." She said as the door shut behind them, Jak letting go of her. "He... he's ashamed of who he was back in Haven. The less people listening to him, the more he's likely to say."

"What about Ryan?" Dax quested. "Is he a solo mission too?"

She bit her lip, considering it. She needed to ask Ryan about his sister, Morgan. He had mentioned her before, but Loor needed to know more than where Ryan had last seen her. She needed to know what had sent her back to this era; why had Morgan come back? For that, it was best if Jak and Daxter were not present. She had her suspicions, and if they were confirmed there was a certain amount that the boys could not know.

"Yeah." She nodded. "Sorry."

"Don't be." Jak gave her a nudge. "We know you tell us as much as you can."

"And then some." She groaned, shaking her head.

* * *

><p><strong>The Author's Corner<strong>

Hehehe... I'm not sorry about the cliffy on the last chapter. Not even a little.

Let's keep it going, eh loves?

-Loor


	46. Switch Off

**I don't own Jak and Daxter.**

**Vacation or War-Endgame  
><strong>**Chapter Forty Six-Switch Off**

Loor had returned to Ryan's apartment, alone. She wanted to switch holsters, and subsequently weapons, since the new gun she'd picked up was awkward to carry in her hands. At least her stave collapsed into a little and easily held form when she wasn't using it. This thing was a chunk of metal upon chunk of metal. She realized, as she was getting out of one set of straps and slipping on the new holster, she didn't even know what kind of ammo her new boom-stick took.

She was kneeling on the floor as she tightened up the straps on the new holster, sighing at the empty apartment. She'd been hoping that Ryan would be here. This was the best place to catch him alone, and it was for that exact reason that she had come here by herself. Sadly the tall blond was not present, but she realized she had other ways of locating him. Once the new holster was snug to her body, and she figured out how to put her new shoulder-canon away, she pulled her comm. unit from her belt. Laying it on the low table in the main room she looked through its functions.

She had assumed before that Spargus wasn't gridded, but the vehicles had proven her wrong with their maps. That meant it was possible that her own unit likely had a functioning map as well.

She grinned when she found she was right. Just like her old unit, this one displayed a map of her current area and gave her little icons for each of her contacts and their location. Jak wasn't far; out by the coast and with to Kleiver, whom she hadn't realized was on her list. She wondered what the big wastelander wanted, but didn't ponder it at the moment. Ryan had an icon on-screen as well, and it was on the move... to her location. Was he on his way home? With the city locked down he must have been left with very little to do.

Which meant she was in exactly the right place. She just had to wait up for him.

In the between time she put her comm. away, picking up her old holster and eying it. The straps that had previously kept her stave on her back were fairly simple; a little work and she might be able to cannibalize her old holster to edit the new one to carry both weapons, leaving her with plenty of options in combat. The big gun wasn't going to get a lot of use unless she and Jak ended up against another big nasty like the one they had faced today, and she still wanted her melee weapon for times when shit got up-close and personal. If only she had some means of doing so... genuine leather took a little more than a needle and thread, as far as she knew. Granted, she'd never worked with such tough material. Most of her sewing experience was with soft fabrics for pillows.

Maybe she'd ask Ryan once she was done grilling him.

Speaking of...

"Oh, Loor!" Ryan greeted as he opened the door, sighting her. "I heard you and Jak had gotten back safe."

"More than safe." She responded, standing up from where she'd been sitting as he entered and shut the door behind himself. "Jak and I... found a little something out there. Though, assuming you're doing what I _think_ you're doing, you already know a little bit about that."

Ryan experienced a short shock, and then he smiled. "You're _back_!" He cheered, rushing forward to hug her tightly. "Oh my God, sweetie you have no idea how good it is to know that..." He trailed off, not knowing exactly how to put it. "Ooh! It's like you're back from the dead!" He gave her a squeeze, lifting her off of the ground as she laughed a little, managing a hug in return. He eventually set her down, but his hands remained on her shoulders. He wore his trademark beaming smile, truly happy her mind was back together again.

Still, that celebration could only last so long. While Loor smiled, her eyes remained hard. She was here on business. As usual, her business was information.

"Yeah, I knew that you and Jak had gone out toward the temple," Ryan spoke plainly, "but I couldn't follow you. Dune Hopper is the only vehicle that can get out there. If you've got the time, I'd really like for you to tell me what happened up there."

"Doing Morgan's job?" She asked, feeling as if her own smile wanted to flee. She was just too serious to be happy, even for her own recovery. "If I remember correctly, you're not nearly as good at it as she is."

Ryan's own mood took a blow, his head lowering a bit as his smile lost some luster. "She... I was already going to be banished, and she had only just gotten back... I knew I was gonna get thrown out."

"Why _were_ you thrown out? Affiliation with the Dark Warrior Program?" Loor moved to sit down again, staring up at Ryan.

"Affiliation?" Ryan actually laughed a little, bitterly. "Sweetie, I was a _volunteer._" He also sat, hanging his head. "I... uh... I guess I lied to you when I first helped you. You asked me why, and I told you I was drafted in to explain why I wasn't all gung-ho with what Errol was doing. Seemed the best explanation at the time, before you figured out I wasn't a native. Anyway, when Morgan and I first landed in Haven we got separated. I told you that, right?"

She nodded. "Yeah. You were a teenager."

"Able bodied without identification within the city." He pointed out. "If I hadn't gone and joined the guard of my own free will, I would have been put in prison for lack of identification. Hell, I have the same genetic anomaly _you_ have. If I had been arrested, I probably would have been just like you; part of the experiments on the _other_ end. On paper, I didn't just volunteer for the Baron's science project, I volunteered to be a guard _during_ his rule. That was more than enough to get me banished; I looked like a spy at best for the rebels still in the city." He shook his head. His shoulders slumped as if a heavy weight were on them. "Once in the guard, and Jak showed up, I did anything to keep an eye on him for Morgan. I never thought about the fact that it would stuff me in a barrel later."

"But you went AWOL." Loor pointed out. "Saving my ass."

"Right before the whole regime was toppled." He countered. "Everyone involved with the Dark Warrior Program was banished, Loor. I just had a little more red on my record than most. I figure, even if Ashelin manages to straighten stuff out, I won't be going back to the city anytime soon." He lamented this; he had accepted Haven as his home.

"What about Morgan?" She moved on, going for the main question in her mind. "I thought... I thought she went home."

"She did." Ryan confirmed. "She was gone, and then..." He shuddered, as if the memory actually made him a little sick. "She was back again not even a few minutes later. Her arm, the one that was already half-bum because of the eco contamination... it was dark and shriveled up to her elbow; she had it wrapped up tight but I could see all sorts of lumps underneath. She was... really upset."

"Why?" Loor asked.

"Onin sent her back, as promised. But... Morgan landed closer to when _you_ left."

Loor felt as if she knew where this was going.

"Loor, why didn't you tell us... video games, really?" Ryan shook his head. "No one could believe it, huh? Had to be fiction..."

She nodded a little, feeling bad for both Morgan and Ryan. Their quest was noble; to bring knowledge of this incredible future back to the past... but the past just wouldn't be able to believe it. Loor had no doubt that Onin had sent Morgan back to the wrong point in history on purpose, to show her that the story was incomplete. There were three games, and Morgan had to come back with all three adventures in her mind for all three stories to be created with any accuracy. Upon such discovery the woman had probably moved as fast as she could to return to Haven... and pick up the missing pieces. "Some things are... too fantastic for people to understand."

"But you knew." He pointed out. "_You_ played these games?"

"Played them." She admitted. "Two of them anyway."

"Wait, you mean...?" He sighed, hanging his head. "You don't know what's supposed to happen this time?"

"Do you?" She asked.

"A little." He let out a sigh. "Morgan... Morgan had to play them herself when she discovered them. Had to see if it was the same adventure that she had been trying to bring back. Too much of it matched up perfectly with her notes, and how you told it to her when she asked you for what _you_ knew of the story. When she found out I was to be banished, she told me to keep my head on straight, like she knew something was out here. And, low and behold, here I am in Spargus. She... told me I'd need to continue her work for a while."

"She's staying until she can see the real thing for herself." Loor sighed slightly, nodding. "Then she'll go back again and tell the story."

"Assuming she's still alive." Ryan voiced his worries. "Like I said... she was living in the North section last I knew, and with what's going on back in Haven right now..."

Loor shook her head, putting her hand to her skull while laughing a little. "No, no, it's like it's already happened. Morgan is going to go back, tell the story, and then, about a year before I left, she's gonna up and vanish again. I read all about it, to coin the phrase. After this adventure... she'll be missing an arm."

"_What?!" _Ryan shrieked a little, looking horrified. "Y-you mean that thing is gonna get worse? She's sick enough as it is... it makes her tired, sometimes delirious... It's so stupid to keep after Jak when she could be dying... and now that we know the story isn't going to mean anything to the people from our world..."

"It meant something to _me." _Loor's voice turned briefly cold, making a point. "And they're great games. The medium doesn't invalidate the story, Ryan. Just because people couldn't accept it as fact... at least someone still knows, right? And Morgan will live. That limb is already useless."

He huffed, shaking his head. "I-if you get back to Haven somehow, _please_ tell her to see Samos. I know she's been avoiding him because he'll recognize her, but she'll never keep her head on straight enough to do her work with the pain she was in the last time I saw her. I wasn't able to convince her, but seeing you again... m-maybe it'll shock her enough that you'll get through that thick skull of hers."

Loor pondered that for a moment. "Samos might already know that you two are around; he saw _you_ when you helped me out at the fortress. Jak and Daxter may not remember you because they were little, but you got a face that's tough to mistake, buddy."

"Oh dang, you're right." He chuckled at himself, trying to calm down. It was clear he was still worried about Morgan, but he was doing his best to breathe. "Guy sure can play it cool when he has to..."

"Sages are good like that." She offered a smile. "Hey, Ryan... one more question if you're up to it?"

The blond looked at her with curiosity. "What do you wanna know?"

"I... need you to tell me about Artimus again. You mentioned him once, back when we first met. You said he tried to help out Fury when she and I were in the fortress, and she..."

"She changed." He confirmed. "Ripped him apart."

"What was he like before that?" She asked. "What did he do?"

"Before that?" Ryan repeated absently, thinking about the question. "He was... one of the earliest members of the Dark Warrior Program below Errol. Had all the schooling to be a field medic, but took a job on the inside for advancement. He was smart, but he didn't..." Ryan trailed off, frowning a little. "He didn't think for himself much, back when I first met him. I had just joined the program to keep tabs on Jak, also part of the medical corps.. He was technically my superior, but he never acted it. He just... did as he was told. It almost seemed like the screaming of the test subjects didn't even bother him... He was cold. Quiet. I know that I just said he was smart, but at the same time he was the dumbest guy I knew. He didn't _think_ about what they told him to do. He didn't think about anything.

"That was just first impressions, of course. Later on we ended up as room mates, and that's when stuff changed a little. I had a bad day; the noises we had to put up with had been getting to me. I... asked him how he managed not to go nuts. He said he didn't think of them, the test subjects, as people... and I told him right out that dehumanizing them like that was sick and wrong. I actually kinda yelled at him. After that he started talking more. I guess I gave him a shove."

Ryan paused. He was hesitant to go on.

"What next?" She asked, thinking about this version of Artimus against the one she had met. She was beginning to understand why he was so desperate to keep that mask on all the time. He'd been one of the Baron's willing pawns; a military man to whom orders were God. Something had obviously happened that forced a shift in his personality, to go from a drone to a free-thinking man, and the shame over that past life had to be overwhelming.

Artimus had already mentioned one of the thing that had triggered his transformation; Fury. The little girl life had kicked one too many times. That had been the final straw. Other things must have led up to it.

"He left the program." Ryan continued. "Veger... offered him something. A different opportunity that would push him up the ladder. It was another science project like Errol's, but a completely different branch. I never got the details; everything was hush-hush. So Artimus took off for that, vanished for nearly a month. When he came back... I remembered his eyes being different."

"His eyes?"

"Yeah. They used to be this really pretty blue. Bright and striking. When he got back, I swear to God they were silver. He wouldn't talk to me then; we only saw each other in passing and that was the first thing I asked about. He sorta shut down about it and just kept walking. It was another week after that he took his old job again within the program; from what I heard Veger had given up on him and handed him back to Errol's command. That was right about the time that you and Fury showed up."

"Artimus met Fury, and went soft on her." Loor surmised after that. "Tried to save her..."

"And died for it." Ryan finished, nodding. "Why'd you wanna know?"

"Trying to figure something out." She answered with a smile that wanted to be sly but was too busy being sad. "You and Artimus... you guys were pretty tight, huh?"

"I guess." Ryan sighed. "I mean, I thought we were close... but he never told me what happened when he was under Veger's command; what went wrong or whatever. I could tell he was keeping something from me, but I never figured out what."

Loor nodded a little. "Do you know what happened to his body?"

"He died a traitor." Ryan shrugged. "No burial. They probably tossed him outside of the walls for the metal heads to eat. I remember getting a shift of watch in Dead Town and worrying I'd come across his rose."

"Rose?" Now she was repeating him.

"Something he wore. He kept his hair long and kept it braided back. He never wore it on duty, but on his off-days he wore this binder that had a rose decoration attached to it. Said it used to be his mom's. I never found it after he was gone, so I figured he probably died wearing it."

"Better he have it." She muttered, feeling worse for asking. She was getting a backlog of guilt for having made Artimus think about these things. Still, there was one answer missing from all this, and she had a theory forming. "Sounds like he didn't have a lot of happy memories to begin with... Mix that up with an ugly ending, and that's just unfair."

"You... still haven't really answered my question." Ryan pointed out. "About why you wanted to know. What are you trying to figure out?"

She sighed, putting her old holster down. She kept her stave in hand; she'd carry it until she figured out a different storage solution. "I'll tell you later." She assured, standing up to head out again. "Once I have the answer."

"But-!" Ryan's eyes pleaded like a puppy's would, wide and begging for fairness. "Loor!"

She shook her head, trying to smile. "I just got my mind back, Ryan." She reminded. "I need to make sure everything matches up before I start telling my version of the facts. I... don't wanna get your hopes up and somehow end up being wrong. If there's one thing I can't stand, it's being wrong."

"No one likes being wrong..." He muttered, still pouting. "Can't you at least share a little? A _hint?" _

"If I give a hint you'll want the answer I don't have yet; the ever-important _how._" She was at the door, opening it to leave. "I promise, as soon as I find out what there is to find out, you'll be the first person I tell."

* * *

><p><strong>The Author's Corner<strong>

I realize pretty much all of this chapter is reminder of stuff we kinda already knew. I still felt it necessary. A re-cap before moving forward, I guess.

Now let's keep moving forward. :D

-Loor


	47. Uncovered

**I don't own Jak and Daxter. **

**Vacation or War-Endgame  
><strong>**Chapter Forty Seven-Uncovered**

It was shortly after Loor left Ryan's apartment that she received a call from an unknown contact on her unit. Yelping at the unexpected vibration, she once again found herself turning crimson with unwanted attention as several people on the street not only looked at her but tensed on their weapons. Worse than that were the disapproving stares they served her when they noticed she was only freaking out about an unexpected sensation on her hip. Maybe Dax was right; she was a _bit_ high-strung. Still, even if the ottsel was right, she didn't really know what she could do about that.

At the moment, all she could do was answer the call.

Surprise must have shown on her face as the connection was made and the video feed flashed to life; she was staring at Artimus's mask. As far as she could see, and granted that was not much, he was alone. Bright natural light said he was outside, but that was all she could surmise.

"Kushik." She limited herself to using his last name while there was a chance that passers by might hear. "I was actually looking for you."

"_Lucky timing, then." _He responded without humor. She hated the fact that she couldn't see his face. Without an expression she had nothing to read at the moment; not even body language. _"This is your notification; you and Jak are up for your final round in the arena tomorrow morning. Be at the steps at sunrise. I don't need to remind you what happens if we have to come looking for you, do I?" _

That was sudden. She nodded, trying not to show the fact that she was somewhat jarred at how soon their final test had come. It hadn't been that long ago that they had finished their training and been let loose on the city. "We'll be there." She assured, feeling pensive about the test. The first had been a proving, the second had been an endurance trial. By all means the third and last test would be nothing short of a final exam of their combat skills, and that made her think they had something nastier in store than a bunch of stitched together mad men on a differently shaped platform than the previous one. The question of what else might be thrown at her and Jak is what had her worried.

"_And what were you seeking me for?" _He asked while she pondered. _"Concern over the fallen man you brought back?" _

The way he was talking was irritating her. Another effect of the mask, it acted as his persona; everything was overly formal as well as disturbingly calm. She understood his shame, but was this really preferable? This personality was nothing but a false cover; a fake identity fashioned to keep people from noticing him. Or, if he _was_ noticed, no one would know who he was. It showed more than shame. The mask was an act of paranoia. He _feared_ recognition.

"I... wanted to talk to you about Chelsea." She felt as if she were using a trump card when she spoke her adoptive sister's name.

There was hesitation before he responded. _"Why?" _He asked simply. _"Is there something else I should know?" _

"Maybe." Loor decided to show a small portion of her hand. "Though I think there's actually something you need to tell me."

"_I said all that was necessary." _

"Please." She did her best to stay gentle. Spargus didn't seem to have any sort of ranking system besides the king being on top, but Artimus had more authority simply by being here longer. If he didn't want to deal with her, she had no doubt that she'd be unable to corner him without an actual fight. Not totally out of the question, but she would feel better if this could be done with minimal lumps. "You're not the only one who lost her, y'know?"

His head dipped in her view of him, the mask tilting down. Faint guilt hit her again; she did feel bad for him. No wonder he had tried to save Fury; life had kicked him just as much. The difference had been that Fury hadn't lost hope just yet. Even alone in the fortress, Loor was sure the girl had been lively and fierce. That was just her way. Always dreaming big, despite her little body.

"_I don't want to grieve." _He said after several moments. While the mask remained on his face his voice was subtly different, like he'd stopped working so hard to control the tone and volume. It was... more natural. _"I'd like to forget what you told me, even though I was the one who asked." _He drew a long breath, loud enough that she heard it through the connection, before lifting his head once more. _"Are you currently occupied?"_

"No." She answered, the small victory running through her.

"_I assume you remember where the novice quarters are. Meet me there." _

* * *

><p>Exhaustion was so common a state for Artimus he was beginning to wonder if it was his default status. It had been like this in Haven, too. For as long as he could remember, he had always been tired. Either there was too much on his mind and he was burnt out, or there wasn't enough and he was bored. Both states, though opposed, brought on a feeling of weariness he was rarely without. Maybe that was just who he was doomed to be on the inside; constantly tired and sick of himself.<p>

Maybe he was tired _because_ he was sick of himself. Such a thing being true wouldn't surprise him.

As expected the novice building was empty and silent. What few new bloods that were in the city would be at the training building currently, and the monks had already been and gone again. With that the candles that lit the place were dark, leaving the whole of the room pitch black aside from the faint light that came in the doorway. Knowing his way in the dark he made his way to the far back of the room through the rows of cots. Few of the novices ever noticed, but this was where the supply closet was; a simple little space where they kept new candles as well as matches and the occasional scavenged lighter. He had a preference for the matches, and the smell of sulfur that came with them.

When he took the matches, he left the mask. That was the whole point of such a lonely meeting place; he knew Loor would prefer if he showed his face to her... as well as it seemed she wanted a little more transparency out of him. She had figured out that he hadn't told her everything before, and he was honestly surprised it had taken her this long. Granted, she and Jak had spent the last day outside of the city. Maybe it had hit her sooner, but she wasn't in position to demand a meeting with him until now.

He pondered these things while lighting a few candles closer to the entrance, providing soft orange illumination for the area where he decided to sit.

Without his mask, resting on a cot, he was reminded of his own first night in Spargus. Just as dead as all the other newbies, found by pure chance and saved under the same conditions of every new blood; pull your weight, or die.

"Tough to kill what's already dead..." He muttered to himself, a bitter chuckle coming out of him. "Half-in, half-out, anyway."

"Forgot how dark this place was... Jeez, much for the dramatic lighting?"

He looked up when he heard Loor's voice. He had expected her to come quickly. At the moment she looked like a shadow, backed by the light from the outside. He didn't bother to defend his location of choice or the dim light. She knew exactly why he picked this place. Instead he found something of his own suspicions confirmed; Loor was different than she had been before. She was the same on the outside, but something in her had shifted that he could feel. Just as sure as he had felt the darkness in her when he had first met her, he now sensed a new presence she carried.

"You've been to the temple." He said simply. He had felt it before, when she and Jak had come in from the wasteland, but he hadn't been sure which one of them he had been feeling it from. Now that he thought about it, it might have been both of them. A faint presence that felt cool to his personal sense for eco itself. A presence that was, to him, quite familiar.

Light eco.

She had stopped walking for a moment, her approach to him halting as he spoke. Then, with a chuckle, she continued on. "Of course... You felt Lyra before, so you feel the new thing too." She was close enough that he could see her face in the light. Her eyes were serious, locked onto him. "'Opposite number' was how you put it, wasn't it, Artimus?" She asked, referencing a conversation they had before. Before she'd known his name. Already he could tell that she knew more than enough to keep him from getting away with hiding anything. "Was it Veger who did that to you? You're another freak like me and Jak, but sitting on the other end of the spectrum. That's why Lyra hated the way you felt, feared you, and why you feel familiar to me now."

"It sounds like you've already put quite a bit of it together yourself." He sighed, not fighting her. "Who ratted me out?"

"After the temple, I had my own theory forming. Being able to feel it... and then feeling you just now, that came together. Though, honestly, I should have seen some connections sooner. You _said_ it when we first talked, for crying out loud. Seem, protecting you from Veger. Keeping Veger from knowing you continue to exist. At the time I didn't even think about it; you were Seem's shadow, and Veger was someone we all hated... but you _told _me they were connected." She stood before him, looking down at where he sat on the cot. "Slip of the tongue...? Or did you not think it was a secret...?"

"I don't care for any secrets Veger's still trying to keep." He looked up at her. Was she angry with him? No, her body language said she was mad, but it was well-contained... she was pissed off at herself for not figuring it out sooner. "He's had a connection to the monks and the temple for years. Obsessed with the precursors, their creations, and the _light._ Is this really what you wanted to talk about, Loor? You said you wanted to talk about Chelsea."

"I did." She confirmed. "I want to know how you survived her. Why are you still alive, Artimus? She told me. Ryan told me. You're supposed to be dead, ripped limb from limb and bled out on the floor in that room where I first woke up in the fortress. The day Chelsea and I escaped she told me. She cried. Do you know how little my sister cries? She claims that she _can't, _that nothing moves her enough for it, and yet she cried over you. She was positive that she had murdered you. Now would you mind telling me how it is that you're still here?!"

It was one memory he didn't want to revisit. Just one that he wanted forget above all the others. That, of course, was the memory she wanted. "You can thank Veger for that." He seethed. "Thank him for the whole disaster. Three KG volunteer for his 'program', his science project running opposite to Errol's. If you're going to have a Dark Warrior Program, why not have a Light? Light eco is the true power of the divine, anyway. The ancient ones used the light to purify the darkness, or so the stories go. Three men taken in a small group to a temple that's not on the map, on the edge of the wasteland. Do you know how many came back, Loor?" There was venom in his voice. A raw rage that he knew Seem would have frowned upon but he couldn't help. "Just one. Light eco isn't for the common man, and no matter how hard Veger pushed it wasn't his right to try and choose heroes. He abandoned science and put his stock in ritual."

He paused. He couldn't believe he was going back there. Back to that moment. He didn't want to go back there, but it was too late to stop now. He was already in the memory, and Loor was staring at him with a dumb look on her face. He couldn't have shocked her more than if he struck her again. There was pity in her look. She knew she was causing him pain, but knowledge was a worthy cause for her. Her need to know had won out over his need not to remember.

"You stood on that alter, didn't you?" He asked. "Down the stairs from the main area of the temple, past the eco vents... you saw the oracle, and stood on the alter?"

She nodded at him, kneeling on the ground in front of where he sat. "It talked to us. Me and Jak. The oracle gave us our new powers."

He nodded a little. "Veger... demanded that another way be found. A way for _him_ to pick who was blessed. I wonder... if the method they offered him was an attempt to discourage him. If it was, it didn't work." He paused, not exactly sure how to say what really happened. As dramatic as it was, he felt it would be easier to show her the mark. To answer questions she asked instead of aimlessly explaining. Raising his chin, he lifted his hands to undo the leather strap that laid securely over his neck. To some it may have looked like a guard; something to keep his neck protected from sand and easy mauling. In truth it was another part of his his disguise.

He knew she was staring. Even in the dim light such a thick scar would be tough to miss. He remembered how many times he'd run his fingers over it in a day before he'd taken to covering it up.

She reached out to touch it herself; a rough line that crossed his throat. "He... oh good God... He tried to force the oracle by _sacrificing _you guys on the alter?!"

"Basically. I was the last of the three who went out there. The other two died. I... still don't know why I got to live. I think I was dead for a little while, but then I came back." He moved to put the leather guard back on. His neck felt cold without it. "Ever since then... you can't really hurt me. You could stab me or shoot me, and it would heal before I even had a chance to bleed. When Fury... changed and attacked me I might have been on the floor for a few minutes before I was able to get up again. Fury thought I died. I'm sure they told Ryan I was gone, but Veger decided to toss me out for my betrayal of the guard. Figured I'd either die of dehydration or suffer until the end of the world."

"A real top-to-bottom shuffle, huh..." Loor blinked. She was obviously thinking again, a tight frown settling over her face. "Do you know if Veger was doing anything else out at the temple?" She asked. "I... while I was there, I _think_ I saw something. It was right after Jak and I got the gift, and I thought I was dreaming, but..." She shook her head, becoming frustrated with it. "It could be real. It might have been real."

He shrugged. "Aside from what happened to me, I don't know what Veger was up to out there. I wasn't listening too hard at the time, honestly. From what I _could_ gather, Seem and Veger have been talking for a long time. Veger has a few objects of power and knowledge of the precursors, Seem has the time and dedication to our creators to carry out his will if it means she might see their true face before she dies." He paused, unsure if he should continue on like this. He didn't care for what secrets Veger was still trying to keep, but Seem had his loyalty. Still, limiting information was not something wastelanders actively did. If you could find it, you could know it. "They want to save the world. Veger promises a way, but only if Seem can figure out where he needs to go. It's very confusing... all I know right now is that she doubts him as a hero. The oracle would not recognize him, and his methods..." He touched his neck through the guard. "She's not impressed."

"Is she ever?" Loor asked while getting up from the floor, moving to sit next to him on the cot. "She's not happy with Veger, she's not happy that Jak and I are in this city, and I'm sure as shit she ain't happy there's another creature like us, roaming the desert, doing God only knows what with that eco crystal." Her head ended up in her hands as she groaned. It sounded as if she were hurt, but Artimus assumed if there was any pain it was only because she was thinking too hard. "Too many damn questions. Dark warriors, light warriors, that oracle, Veger sticking his fingers in stuff out here... and now that creature... My mind keeps coming back to her, and that place I saw in the temple."

"The one you might have dreamed up?" He asked, mildly curious.

"It was like a lab, and there was a set up in there..." She frowned tightly. "Whoever that creature was, the one that attacked me, I think she might have been...'made' out here. In the temple."

"Never." He spoke at once to deny the thought. "Seem allows Veger a lot of things, but she would never let something like that get created out here. And Veger would have no interest in such experiments; to him all of the answers are with light eco. Find the light, destroy the dark; that's his thing."

"Great..." She muttered. "Another whacked-out villain with his heart in the right place but his head up his ass. I thought people who were _that_ stupid were supposed to self-destruct before they could actually influence anyone, due to their own stupidity and behavior. Darwinism has failed me."

"He's actually pretty smart." He had to point it out, though he was pretty sure she knew. Veger's mind was a twisted and manipulative thing. His _ideas_ were stupid, his execution was genius. "Just... y'know, nuts."

She shot him a sudden look, and finally gave him a wry smile. "Just who are you? Just now, you might've sounded like any other young guy. When you've got the mask on, you're some faceless mystic with a sword. I... Ryan told me some of the stuff you went through, and I get that it was ugly, but is this really helping? Denying that you even exist?"

He shrugged, standing up. This conversation was about over, as far as he could tell. "It hurts less."

"But you don't feel anything else, do you? All numbed out, running in circles." She looked up at him now, hands resting on her knees. "Even if it was because Veger tried to kill you, you've got powers. For some reason the oracle decided to save you. You should be trying to figure out what that reason is."

"As you and Jak should be considering why you were gifted freely." He pointed out to take the spot-light off of himself.

"I'm... sure we'll figure it out. Jak's already a hero, after all. Maybe you are too. Who knows?"

"Me?" He wore a faint frown while shaking his head. "No... I'm no hero."

She popped up onto her feet, stretching her arms over her head. "You say that, but I know a few people who would disagree. Fury would, if she were still here. You were brave enough to try. And Ryan..." She reached over to clap a hand on his shoulder. This was actually a mild challenge with how much shorter she was than him. "You should go see him. The fact that you're still alive... he should know."

"He'll have all the same questions you did." Artimus pointed out. "Though, seeing as he's out here, I don't suppose I could make his thoughts about Haven's governing body any worse at this point... He'll be upset that I've been avoiding him, hiding from him. He can be quite a handful when he's on about something, you know."

"I think he'll be happier to see you." She smiled again, trying to encourage him. "Leave the mask. Be yourself."

* * *

><p><strong>The Author's Corner<strong>

Artimus... I was never very kind to your character... Enjoy these moments while you can.

Muhuhahahahaaaaa...

-Loor


	48. Everything

**I don't own Jak and Daxter. **

**Vacation or War-Endgame  
><strong>**Chapter Forty Eight-Everything**

"Loor! Babe! Was wondering where you got off to. Who's this guy?"

Daxter's greeting as Loor approached Ryan's abode with Artimus in tow was energetic as always, if not a little confused. They boys had just come out of the building, both of them looking at her company with curiosity as if they had never seen him before. Technically, she would argue, they hadn't. Not really. They'd seen the masked man before, and Artimus currently followed her with his face exposed to the setting sun.

Jak's eyes focused on the man, gaze narrowing after only a few seconds. "You..." He trailed off. Of course, Artimus was a medic during Jak's time in prison. Loor placed herself in the middle to defuse the conflict before it happened.

"Go ahead, Artimus." She said, looking over her shoulder and motioning to the building ahead. "Second floor, to the right."

"You're not coming with?" He asked, blinking at her. The idea of doing this on his own actually unnerved him.

"You two are old friends." She snorted, making her motion again with a little more force. "It would be awkward if I came along. Or it would get awkward. _Go." _

"But-"

"Artimus." She grabbed him and gave him a literal shove. "_Go." _

He looked back at the group as he tripped over himself, his gait reluctant at best as he got to and entered the small living complex. Loor found herself smiling as he finally faced forward and left them; he'd been clinging to her like a lost puppy the second she'd convinced him to step out into the daylight without that mask. Poor guy didn't know how to live.

Turning her gaze back to her partners, she felt she had the shocked attention of both of them. "What?"

"That was Artimus? The dude with the mask?" Daxter asked. "Without the mask? How did you manage _that, _sweets? You had, what, a couple hours at best?"

"Doing what I do best." She answered with a shrug while motioning for them to walk on. "What were you boys up to while I was doing my thing?"

"We got another eco crystal." Jak spoke up now. "Kleiver challenged us to a bit of target-practice, gave us a light eco crystal when we beat him. Dax and I had just stopped off over there," He nodded back to where they'd just come from, "To drop it off with the others; they're too bulky and valuable to carry around everywhere."

"Two light crystals..." She mused while they approached the beach and the cliffs. "And three dark ones that we know about, two with us, one out in the desert with the creature that tried to rip me up. That's a lot of power moving around pretty quickly, and quite a bit of it in our possession."

"What did you find out about Artimus?" Jak asked, the subject change sudden. He didn't want to ponder what was happening and she knew it. To him it sounded too much like another end-of-the-world scenario, and that was the _last_ thing he wanted to get mixed up in after Haven. "Do we need to worry about him?"

"He's not dangerous." She answered. "He... has light powers. Not because the oracle chose him, but because Veger was trying to figure out a way to pick the heroes himself. He was killing volunteers from within the KG on the alter in front of the oracle. Artimus was saved where his comrades died... his healing factor is through the roof for it; that's how he survived Serenity. Could shoot him and he'd be healed before you could reload. I'd say that sounds really useful, but I don't think he currently has any fight in him. Knowing that Fury is gone... I think he's good where he is, hiding in Seem's shadow. Seem's protecting him from Veger, so it's obvious she doesn't trust our good Count. Should something happen to their status-quo, Artimus will be there to make sure Veger ends up on the bottom of the pile."

They stopped as they arrived at the cliffs, Loor looking out at the ocean instead of at them. She knew she'd just dropped a bunch of stuff on them, it it was possible that Jak would need a little time to process it. She didn't want to pressure him with her gaze.

"Veger did _what?!_" Daxter demanded at once. "That's just... sick!"

"Veger wants to pick the heroes." Jak muttered, his voice a faint growl. "He's had his hand out here for a while then."

"At least as long as we were fighting the metal heads in Haven." Loor confirmed with a nod. "Maybe longer. He's promised Seem a lot to get her co-operation."

"What about the catacombs?" Daxter asked, putting his fuzzy hands to his head as Loor looked back to them. The ottsel was trying to wrap his head around everything at once, but Jak was looking down at his boots with a dark expression on his face. "_Uugh_ there's too much going on out here, how is a guy supposed to remember it all!?"

"We take it as it comes." Jak said without lifting his head. "One piece at a time."

"Speaking of..." Loor chuckled slightly, remembering something and embarrassed she hadn't mentioned it right off the bat. "Our final test is tomorrow morning. We're to report at dawn. I figured it was gonna show up soon, but even this seems a little sudden to me..."

"Tomorrow?" Jak asked, looking at her directly now. He was thinking something. "There's something we should do before then. C'mon."

* * *

><p>The training building had many people milling around at this hour. The current crop of newbies was still here, and several bored wastelanders had come here to do <em>something<em> while the city was still locked down against the sandstorm beating on the walls. As usual one wall was lined by several monks who stood by an impressive supply of food for those who were working on their skills, as well as water. Loor hadn't realized it until she thought about it, but she was in need of both. Jak waved her off when she announced she was going to go take advantage, pointing off to an empty corner as where he wanted her to go when she was ready.

Jak hadn't explained why they'd come here, just that it was a good idea. Daxter took his time with Loor at first, but his stomach took a lot less to fill and he was soon on the ground, bounding off to find his own entertainment. Loor had no doubt the ottsel would be up to his neck in trouble in no time, but she didn't bother to watch him. Dax was technically just as grown up as she was; he could take care of himself. It was easy to forget that sometimes, what with his small size and attitude, but in the end he was just a happy dude stuck in an itty-bitty body. Alone with herself and soon contented, she was left to wander off to where Jak had pointed and wonder why they were here.

There was no point in running the track or doing any lifting today; they'd just be tired and sore the next day. Not a good condition to be in. Granted her legs were in a perpetual state of tired and sore from all the running around they were doing, but there was no reason to add onto the usual burden. Practice with her new weapon was a thought, but she wondered if it was even semi-safe to fire indoors. Also, Spargus didn't have a gun course that she knew about. Any target practice she got with the new thing was going to be out in the wasteland, and hopefully she'd always be aiming at big things with a large strike-zone.

Reminded of the new weapon attached to her back, she was also reminded of her sore shoulders. This thing was _heavy._ The gun head stuck up close enough to her head that if she tilted herself back far enough she could rest the back of her skull on it, and she was still regularly bumping the stock with her elbow when she walked. The harness distributed the weight along her shoulders and ribs, and it was comforting to have a big boom-stick for the big baddies, but she was beginning to worry about restricted mobility.

Apparently that's what Jak was worried about too. When he returned it was with a wooden pole and a club; practice weapons made available to the novices. He handed the pole to her without saying a word; it was about the same dimensions and weight as her stave. He kept the club for himself; he used his morph gun to bludgeon sometimes and he could hold this heavy hunk of wood the same way. What he had in mind was pretty obvious, but she had to raise an eyebrow at him anyway.

"I've finally graduated from the wrestling class?" She asked with a little humor. "I get to spar now?"

"Far from it." He laughed, looking like he had relaxed a little bit in the few moments he'd been by himself. "But you're not used to having that weight on your back. The wrong time to learn is when there's real danger. One trip-up on that mechanical floor in the arena at the wrong time..." He trailed off, not having to complete the sentence.

"Enough!" She barked, feeling a stab of fear go through her at the thought. She _really_ hated machines that moved on their own, more so now that she remembered _why. _She'd heard a million and one horror stories about automated equipment taking off fingers, toes, or even whole limbs from people when she was little. Even seen a few people missing pieces _because_ of such things. If there was one thing in the world that made her squirm, it was machinery that moved on its own, big enough to destroy body parts, with no safeties or covers. That clockwork nightmare in the arena was the worst thing she could imagine, and just thinking about it currently made her a little sick. "I-I'd rather not think about that." She covered, since he was staring at her with the question on his face. It wasn't often that she reacted with such obvious fear.

"Jeez... you used to work with machines, and you're freaked out by one?" He pointed out.

"_Little_ machines." She had put her regular stave down against the wall, holding the practice weapon in one hand and wiggling the fingers of the other hand at him. "Little fingers, little devices, usually with very few moving parts! I might get burned, or lose a little skin, or at worst break a fingernail. If its bigger than me and on the move, I don't want to know about it!"

He put his hand up to stop her tirade, trying not to laugh at her. "Alright, alright. I guess you just gotta be careful not to look down tomorrow morning, then."

"No shit..." She found herself pouting a little. She'd assumed her memory returning would be an all-around improvement, but with with her memory came the things she learned to fear through her life. She'd been a freer creature without it. "Alright, so what? We just gonna take this at full speed and I get to fall in the sand and let my bruises teach me what I'm doing wrong?"

"Yeah, basically." He smirked, hefting the club he'd taken in both hands and ready for her.

She took the practice weapon in both hands, twisting it in the air in front of her before setting her grip wide and coming at him with a short yell.

She knew almost at once that there was something wrong. Throwing her weight forward was a good feeling; her legs felt powerful and she had her eyes on knocking away his weapon and then twisting to get a shot in at his body. She was thinking about the parts of her back that were currently taken up by her new weapon that would keep her from swinging in particular angles. She might have been hoping to impress him by learning quickly. The moment after the force of her push caught up with her, she felt top-heavy. Her leading foot wasn't ready for it, and she stumbled around him, the sand on the floor spraying up as she struggled to stay upright and went past him.

She swore as he served her the just desserts of her fool-hardy approach, giving her a solid hit in the ribs with his club while moving to get behind her. One powerful down stroke and she'd be on the ground.

Thinking fast she got the pole to the ground in front of her, pushing off and to the side to get out of the way of the strike she was anticipating. Upright again and facing him, she whipped the wooden pole around her body to try and warn him off and get some room. One bout, and she was already panting. Not good. Her ribs hurt.

He was smirking at her.

Growling she found herself moving a little more carefully; with the extra weight she couldn't throw herself around. Steps had to be solid, but she couldn't stand slowing down.

He came at her while she was thinking about it, forcing her to block the club and bending over backwards to get out from under it as he tried to power through her guard, managing to twist away and give him a tap to the back of the neck as he went by her. In a fight with her bladed weapon that would have been a killing blow, but that wasn't what this spar was about. He had rounded in no time, shifting the club to one hand to reach out and grab her before she could slip out of the way and coming in the shove his knee in her gut.

With a yelp she tried to use her flexibility to her advantage to twist away again, her shoulder becoming the pivot and trying to go under his hand.

Again, the weight on her back stuffed her in a barrel. The good news was she had gotten loose of his grip. The bad news was she was flat on her back on the ground, swearing as her head smacked into the head of her new weapon and her elbow once again hit the stock, this time with more force and jarring her funny bone. With an numbing tingle going up one arm and the other occupied with holding onto the practice pole, she felt very much like a turtle that had ended up on its back.

She was getting frustrated. Jak had stalled when she'd fallen, standing over her and looking down.

"I... don't think you're bringing that thing along for the final test." He said dryly. "I don't think you're gonna figure that thing out in one night... you need work."

"Ya think?" She grouched from the ground, wiggling the two fingers she still had control of while releasing the practice weapon to hold her elbow. "Son of a... Who carries a stupid huge thing like this?" She asked as he crouched down and helped her up by grabbing her shoulders and lifting her into sitting position.

"People who deal with wasteland metal heads?" Jak posited, reminding her that the norm out here were monsters the size of trucks.

"Oh." She snickered, shaking her head. "Right." Stupid people with their huge guns and their huge metal heads. With a sigh she looked to the thing strapped to her back. She did like it, but Jak was right. At this point, it just wasn't practical... or smart. It had gotten them out of that one rough spot, but here was hoping they wouldn't need it again anytime soon. Or, if they did, they'd know walking into a situation and have it along in the car, not on her shoulders. "Heavy hitters always gotta be big hunks of stuff, huh? No one could make compact stuff for little people?"

He shrugged, giving her a push to encourage her to get back to her feet. "C'mon, we can keep working on it for now. Leave it off for the test, put it back on after, you'll get used to it eventually."

She sighed while forcing her body into compliance, getting to her feet while letting go of her elbow and picking the pole back up. Her fingers were still tingling, but she could use them again. He was already on his feet, standing behind her and waiting for her to turn around for another go. She walked a few steps away to get a little space, moving the pole between hands as she went and trying to better pin down what her rear-clearance was; she'd have to adjust how close she held her weapon to her body when she passed it between hands behind her back. That or maybe re-figure how she did it. As long as the ends didn't come up she wouldn't hit herself.

_I still haven't thanked him._

She turned around to look at him again. He was ready to start around round. Was he even thinking about the fact that they both could be dead tomorrow? If there was anything she had learned since she left her home, it was her own mortality. And, since it was her nature, she worried about it. What about him?

What was she thinking? The reason they were here was because he knew tomorrow would be dangerous. Talking about it, worrying about it, did nothing. Jak was all about action. If tomorrow was going to be dangerous, he was gonna be ready for it. He was a survivor, ready to ride out the end of the world if he had to.

That was just his way.

She had her way too.

"Jak..." She paused, not sure of how to phrase it. "I... Thanks."

He straightened up from his battle posture, a faint smile on his face that didn't seem to know why it was there. "What for?" He asked.

_Keeping me alive out here. Looking after me, even when it wasn't really me anymore. Trying to protect me from Lyra. Giving me advice. Training me up. Being there, even when I thought I would have been better off dead and alone. Being the understanding one. Letting me try and understand you. Pushing me when I wanted to quit. Giving me someone to compete with. Telling me to be myself when I didn't even know who I was... _

"Everything." The word was simple, but felt right. "You've done... so much for me."

"You say that like I'm gonna stop now that your head is better." He came over to her, putting an arm over her shoulder and settling his hand on her head. "If I've gotta survive out here, you're coming with me."

"I-I know." For some reason she was blushing, and her tongue was starting to fumble. _Christ_ she was bad at this shit. Actually next to him for the first time since she'd come back into her own mind at the temple she was reminded of just how nice he seemed to smell to her, despite the fact that neither of them had bathed in quite some time. At that moment she felt the desire to drop the pole in her hand and hug him, but she didn't. Now wasn't the time. "I just... I know I haven't made it easy on you... so I get to say thanks, right?"

His head bent to hers. Apparently he wasn't bothered about the idea of being affectionate in a public place. "Things are better because you're here." He said softly. "So likewise to you, I guess."

"You guess?" She snickered. He was worse at this than her. Of course, he wasn't good with words in a regular situation.

He gave her a prod in the stomach with the club he was still holding with his other hand, letting her go and backing off. "Let's get back to this." He offered, still smiling at her. It was only the quick subject change that betrayed the fact that she'd made him feel awkward by teasing him.

Despite knowing she was about to make a fool of herself again, she was still grinning.

* * *

><p><strong>The Author's Corner<strong>

OH SHIT SOMETHING CUTE HAPPENED.

Hehe... oops?

Thank you EVERYONE for your wonderful reviews. I wish I had noticed sooner that we were approaching 100 reviews, I would have offered some kind of prize just for fun. Oh well. Maybe I'll think of something when we get close to 200, eh?

Assuming we get there. Hehe... /lame/

-Loor


	49. Sariea

**I don't own Jak. Loor is a dramatic and fictionalized representation of my personal psyche with additional elements from the universe in which I write her. But, as a short hand, let's call her original character, and she belongs to me. **

**Vacation or War-Endgame  
><strong>**Chapter Forty Nine-Sariea**

Ryan's apartment was empty when Jak, Daxter, and Loor returned to rest for the night. Dax didn't take long to drop off into sleep, and Loor was sure she wasn't going to be long for this world either. Jak was messing with his comm., trying to figure out how to set an alarm on the device as she promptly unhooked herself from her weaponry and laid out on her mat. Ryan still hadn't moved any of the sleeping mats, bless that blondie.

To put it simply, she was beat. She and Jak had sparred for at least an hour, probably more. The sun was down, the stars were out, and if she had to guess all the light eco in her system had been used up healing the wound she'd taken earlier that day. She'd taken plenty of lumps; from Jak, tripping over herself, and hitting herself as her practice weapon caught on her new gun multiple times and rebounded the other end of the pole into her. 'Not used to it' was an understatement. Footsore, legsore, screw it she was _bodysore_ and ready to pass the fuck out.

Face first on her mat, loose of her equipment and boots, she pulled off her shirt and bunched it up for extra padding under her head before closing her eyes with the full intention of skipping out on any mental activity and going to sleep.

She should have known better.

She knew it when she couldn't smell the blood on her shirt anymore, and the feeling of sand was gone from her skin. It was almost as if she'd taken in a breath only to let it go and blow away reality, the faint scent of lavender and sandalwood hitting her on her next inhale. That was new. Lyra must have gotten bored with the lack of stimulation for her nose in here. Granted the scent was quite pleasant with how faint it was; a mere suggestion of lemon could be nice... a small smile went over her face as her imagining it made it so, cracking her eyes open to find herself to be exactly where she expected to be. She'd returned, as she often did before sleep, to the mindscape. Her own mind.

Her smile vanished as she found more than the smell of the place had changed.

The first thing she noticed was that the room had gained in size and the corners were now gone. What have been previously a square was now a circle. The loft and bedding remained, but an addition had been made. Long strips of cloth, similar to the silken blankets that covered the place's forest green carpet, had been hung from various points of the loft, stretching across in long and narrow swaths that served to block out the limitless darkness that came from a total absence of a ceiling and looked as though they might have been comfortable to treat as hammocks. The color ranged from white to pale blue, the edges embroidered in navy with elegant designs that took Loor only a moment to work out. Threaded into these new sheets of color were shapes that represented the precursors and many of their creations and machines. These strips of cloth seemed to be pinned to the underside of the loft in a random manner, and by no means completely blocked the way up to the top of the loft or the view of the void above.

Sitting up and looking around, Loor found the general bedding around the place had also been effected. Piles of pillows and blankets were thrown about as always, but the blue and white appeared down here too. Blankets with the same navy embroidery, pillows with the dark color as trim along their sides. They were mixed in with all the usual; the green and purple was still everywhere and comforting. The last different Loor noted were bronze fixtures set into the walls; lights. Precursor bronze domes with a yellow gem-like substance inside, giving the constant light in this place a logical source. Unnecessary, but a nice touch.

Looking around, she found herself to be alone. Blinking and feeling a faint fear, she checked her senses. She could feel Lyra, but there was something else too.

The new thing. Whatever the precursors had done to her was here, and was likely responsible for making her mind feel a little like a temple gone horribly wrong.

_Lyra?_ She still called out with her mind, not exactly sure where the animal was.

_**Up. **_Lyra's voice sounded, as it usually did when they were low on eco, lethargic and slow. **_You can climb, can't you? _**

_Someone's grouchy. _Loor noted while standing up and having to give pause when she got to her feet. She felt... strange. It was tough to pin down at first, but she realized it when she looked down at herself.

Since Jak had brought her back to Haven, her mental representation had changed. Without her memories she had accepted her grown up self as her true self, and the child-image she used to be in her head was no more. This was still true, but the change was one she hadn't been able to realize until now. She was now the same on the inside as she was on the outside, and it felt right.

She'd said it herself when she'd come around. Lauren didn't exist anymore. That little girl didn't belong here, not even as her inner persona. With that thought in her head she moved for the loft, jumping to get a grip on it and pulling herself up after swinging her legs a little. Now that she thought about it, she'd never come up onto the loft before. That had always been Lyra's territory; a place where the animal liked to sleep or prowl, or just lounge. The padding set into the wooden frame, perhaps to reflect that, were deep violet, with plenty more pillows and blankets of all the colors spread around.

_If this were a real place, I could have the most awesome slumber party here. _She snickered to herself faintly, looking up and finding Lyra not far from her.

The animal was not in her usual way. She lay on her stomach with her knees and arms drawn under her, making a ball which she wrapped up with her tail. Her ears lay flat to her head, staring at another figure which currently sat between them.

At first glance it seemed nothing more than a blue silhouette of a girl. Not a woman, but a girl caught between childhood and womanhood. She cast no shadow, but her image gave off a faint white light that had a cool and pure quality. Some features came as Loor looked for them, but they seemed to melt back into ghostly nothingness as soon as she wasn't paying attention. The suggestion of a strong jaw too big for the girl's thin neck because she hadn't grown into it yet, the tight and serious expression on a face that knew it too well, and faintly blond hair pushed back behind her shoulders. As she studied this faint image she noticed one very prominent thing; this girl-creature didn't have long ears. She bore the short and rounded kind that were normal for Loor's home era, but not this time.

It turned to her, eyes identified by a white glow that did not waver like the rest of her form did. I did not speak out loud, but instead addressed Loor in the same way that Loor would speak to Lyra; through thought. _You may speak verbally. The animal will understand, as I act as a bridge between you. _

_**You mean a wall!**_ Lyra snapped, raising her chin above the security blanket of her tail and hissing at the new creature. Loor could see Lyra was aggravated; the fur that ran down her spine was sticking up enough to push up the fabric of her violet robe, giving her a hunch-back look as she curled up into a tighter ball. **_She wants your permission to destroy me! _**

_Not you. _Her voice was as young as her form appeared to be; the voice of a child speaking with the patterns of a creature older than time itself. _If I had the means to send you to oblivion without harming this host, I would have done so already. Alas, that is even outside the power of my masters. My intention, should the host will it, was to simply fix the disorder in this mind that first allowed you to form your own free-thinking personality, animal. _

"Disorder?" Loor asked, looking seriously between the two while coming to sit with her knees together, ankles to the side as she settled into the plush padding. "You're talking about monkeying with my brain chemistry."

_Indeed. I have been in many, I know what to change without causing harm to the rest of your mind. _Though her image did not change, the tone sounded faintly smug. _I healed the burns in your brain, restoring your memory to you. You may trust me on this matter. _

"Lyra's personality..." Loor trailed off, looking up to the animal. "Was part of my own. I need her the way she is."

_The animal is more difficult to control like this. With an active mind she is capable of planning, thought. If she remains this way, she will be impossible to contain on your own. As far as your memory has shown me, you are already well aware of this. She will still exist, she will simply lack the human elements that make her so difficult for you to fight. _

_**As good as death! **_Lyra let out snarl with the thought. **_I like my mind the way it is! I live, and I like being alive. _**

_You plead with me, animal, when it is your host who decides. I simply have the power to do so, to correct this unbalanced mind. But... _She trailed off, bitterness in the tone now. _I act only as my host would desire. _

Lyra's black eyes, which had been narrowed this whole time, now widened and looked to Loor. Even through the cooling balm of this new presence, Loor could feel her and her emotions. The animal was scared. They had been together since Loor was a child; a lonely little thing who started talking to herself because she had no one else. Even if Lyra was just an imaginary friend turned delusion, a chemical imbalance in the brain causing a sharding of personalities... a lot more than that had happened once they'd gotten to Haven. Lyra had been a lot of things; a tormenter, an animal, a nightmare that haunted her day and night.

She was also alive. Looking at Lyra, even thinking of all the horrible things the animal had done to her, Loor could not imagine her life without her... and could not bring herself to even think about taking life away from her.

"You will leave my mind as it is." Loor ordered, looking at this strange blue ghost. Whatever the precursors had given to her, it was _not_ making a good first impression. "Lyra is... a handful, that's no lie, but this is the way I live my life. I may be a crazy little fuck, and shit is difficult, but I like it this way."

The ghost girl nodded slightly. _As you wish. _Was her response, moving to stand upon the loft and walk to one of the many lengths of cloth strung across. As Loor suspected, it was just another place to lounge. She slipped onto one from the loft, though it didn't react to her presence. _The insane often wish to stay the way they are, fearing change will always be change for the worse. Should you ever come to fear that creature more than you fear your own mind, I will be ready. _

"Who the hell do you think you are?" Loor demanded, watching this thing. The voice seemed so authoritative, despite sounding like a child's. It was getting on her nerves, almost as much as the things she said. Talking about Lyra as if she were some sort of disease, or a rabid dog in need of being put down, and trying to appeal to Loor's logical mind to get her to make such an ugly decision. If this strange ghost had seen her memories, wouldn't she know just how much of her was tied up in Lyra? How much she'd lose if Lyra's human portion was lost? Stupid high-and-mighty little-!

Loor's rant was cut off as she was suddenly bowled over from the other side; Lyra had come to pounce her, holding her tightly as if Loor had saved her life. Technically, she guessed she had. Also, connected through touch, Lyra's thoughts came to Loor in nothing more than a whisper; _**Watch it, she can hear you. Even the stuff you don't actively think; she's a lot better at it than I am. **_

_I am a construct of light eco, crafted by the precursors to be placed within a mortal vessel during times of trouble, so that mortal may live to carry out tasks which ensure the future of their race and protect the precursors, their history, and their devices. _Her image remained faint, unmoving, almost blending into the swath of cloth she'd laid down on. _You were chosen as a vessel, though I am not aware of your true importance. It was my partner who was given to the true hero. Your destiny, like your mind, is a mess as far as I can see. _

"Jesus..." Loor propped herself on her elbows; Lyra had settled on her lap like a contented cat and Loor didn't want to make her move. "You got a name to go with that shitty attitude?"

_Surely you didn't think you were important? You know better. You come from an age past, and I've been forced to adsorb your discarded persona to more easily exist in your... **unique** mind. As far as a name goes... I am more a cluster of energy than I am a life form. I was created without one, but if you wish to give me one while I am here, I will abide by it. _

_**I don't like her... you don't either.**_ Lyra was still whispering, clinging and keeping private communication as best she could. **_Can we get rid of her? _**

"You saved my life... this morning." Loor noted out loud while trying to figure out how Lyra could lower her mental voice so much. Loor didn't dare trying to communicate in return for fear of blowing the animal's cover. "If you're so pissed about... about having me as a 'vessel', why didn't you just let me die?"

_The masters wish you alive. _A simple response. _I carry out that wish. My personal feelings are irrelevant. _

"Then lose the attitude, because it's pretty irrelevant too." Loor found herself twisting her upper body a little to rest on just one elbow, eyes focused on where this thing lay while placing the other hand on Lyra's head, petting the animal. Even after it was decided that no harm would come to her or her personality, Loor could still feel a mild fear coming off of her. She wanted to comfort that fear, somehow. "You don't like my mind, okay, but you're stuck along for this ride so you can at least _try _to be... fuck, I donno, understanding? Practice a little fucking tact?"

_The animal has no understanding. You defend her. _

"Lyra is what she is, and there's no changing that!" Loor snapped. "You, on the other hand, come down literally from the hands of the precursors and act like you own the place? How many previous hosts have you _had?_ And did you get along with _any_ of them?"

_Many, across multiple worlds and times... and most of them did not need to be aware of me. I assure you, I prefer to be passive, but as I may have mentioned, your mind is... unable to allow me such things. I was forced to have a persona in your mindscape, and unwilling to make one of my own I took that which you discarded and made it my own. I do not care for this mind, I do not care for this body, and I do not care for the traits I seem to have adsorbed with it. _

Loor thought on it for a moment while frowning. She wasn't sure what she was expecting with the precursor's gift, but this certainly wasn't it. Cold, irritable, outright bitchy, what was with this thing? The last thing she needed was another mental war on her hands, but this thing seemed to be going out of its way to be a bit of a pain. It seemed so petty that she'd rather not speak to it, but that was probably what it wanted. The goal of its behavior was to be unpleasant enough as to be ignored.

Breathing a sigh, she decided it was a wish she was willing to grant for now. Tomorrow was a big day, and she didn't want to waste hours of true sleep to argue with this intruder to her and Lyra's mind.

_An unwilling intruder, I assure you. More like a prisoner, now. _

"Only because you found out my head wasn't exactly an ideal place for you." Lyra was right, the glow-girl was good. "...brat..."

_**Because name-calling is going to help...**_Lyra nuzzled against her host, her thoughts rather dejected. _**I can't touch her either... not enough substance. She's not all there yet. **_

"She's just... new." Loor reassured herself, dropping her elbow and lying back, both hands ending up in Lyra's hair and scratching. Loor was yet to meet a mammal that didn't enjoy a scratch behind the ears, and Lyra was no exception, stretching out and purring softly despite the tension of the situation. Through their connection, it was as good as giving herself a shoulder rub in terms of how easy it became to unwind. "Little time to get used to it, accept the situation... might come out okay."

_**You keep telling yourself that... ah, this is... nice... why haven't you ever scratched me before? **_

Loor snickered, watching Lyra melt with her head on her stomach. It was strange to see her face fade into such a happy expression. "Never had the chance..."

_**Thought of a name for the brat, yet? **_

Nodding slightly, Loor turned her head to relax it back on the bedding and once again look to where the new entity had laid herself down to rest.

"Goodnight, Sariea." She called out, possibly just to annoy her.

* * *

><p>Loor awoke to the definite sensation of being kissed, a hand gently brushing across her cheek. For a moment she thought she might have been dreaming, and Lyra was once again teasing her, but there was something about the real world that even she couldn't fake. Everything was just more... solid. The floor, the feel of the mat under her back, the faint smell of smoke in the small apartment from the hearth, and even the pre-dawn darkness itself all had a quality to it that couldn't be imitated, no matter how hard it was imagined.<p>

Cracking her eyes in that darkness and being unable to see, she still knew who had woken her. Sure as she could smell him, and feel the heat coming off of his body as he laid next to her. "Jak..." Her voice was a whisper, almost a whine. "...couldn't sleep?"

"Woke up before the alarm." He answered just as softly, his hand still on her cheek. She liked the fact that his hands were rough; it was something she noticed almost every time he touched her and the texture pleased her.

She giggled, finding that she'd rolled onto her side in her sleep and scooting a little closer to him while reaching out one hand to rest on his side. He probably couldn't see it in the darkness, but she was smiling. He had a knack of doing that to her; making her smile. She felt like, if she could see him, he'd be smiling too. "Today is gonna be nasty..." She muttered, that being the first thought that came to her mind. She couldn't help it; she automatically pointed herself at the next event down the road and tended to obsess.

"_Shh..._" He hushed her, leaning in again. She was right, he was smiling. His kiss was quick, soft, just enough to hush her up for a moment. "I'm pretending."

"What are you pretending?" She asked, weirded out by the very idea. _He_ was practicing make-believe? To what end?

"You won't like it." His assurance came with a chuckle, which only served to make her more curious.

"Tell me anyway."

She could practically hear the grin on his face now, one that joyed in the fact that she wanted to know something perfectly frivolous. "You don't believe in pretend. Why would you wanna know?"

"Jak..." Likewise, he could probably hear the pout on hers. "C'mon."

"Alright, alright... heh..." He shifted a little, the hand that had been resting on her face sliding down to her waist and pulling her closer. Without thinking her toes found his, putting one of her feet through his ankles and resting the other one on top. "... do you remember the day you left Haven?"

Irritation hit her. He was going to bring _this_ up? The last thing she needed on a day like this was a guilt trip over what she'd done to him. She'd woken up at his side after the victory party; an event she realized now, due to time shenanigans, no longer existed. Still, she remembered it. They'd spend the party together, gone back to the hideout, passed out together on the bunk she'd called hers throughout her time with the underground, and in the morning she'd left while he'd still been asleep. She'd left him only with a kiss on the forehead, and no good-bye. She was sure if she'd woken him for a good-bye, she never would have left.

Looking back at the events that followed, it probably would have been better if she'd woken him that morning. Still, he was waiting for her answer...

"Yeah... what about it?"

"I was pretending I did what I wanted to do, back when I thought of it."

She blinked, realizing what that meant. Did he mean...? "You were awake when I left? And you...?" She trailed off. What if he had?

Those thoughts were useless. Looking back and saying 'what if' was pointless. All that existed was what had happened, and in this case not even that was really real anymore, besides their memories of it. The two of them were the only ones who knew that even happened, and the only ones who would ever know.

There was just one thing she had to ask though, now that the thought had already been had.

"Why didn't you stop me? Why didn't you... wake me up like that, and talk me out of it?"

"Because," His answer came at once; there was no regret. "It was something you needed to do. If I had stood in your way, you would have spent the rest of your life wondering if you did the right thing. When I woke up before you, I put myself in your shoes... and knew that I wouldn't want anyone to stop me. Not until I had been able to try."

"You still chased me, though." She pointed out, giggling. "What was with that?"

"Well, _I_ still wanted to stop you."

"Right..." She bumped her nose against his. "So, if you know you did the right thing... why are you pretending?"

He shrugged, lacking a reason as to _why_. She felt the motion and understood he had no answer, and she found herself snickering at him again.

She still didn't get it, but that was okay.

Pushing her lips to his, she tried to pretend too.

* * *

><p><strong>The Author's Corner<strong>

Two chapters in one day? HOLY SHIT.

AND MORE CUTE SHIT. WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH ME?!

I have no fucking clue. Maybe it's to balance out Sariea's bullshit. Bratty little twat.

ONWARDS!

-Loor


	50. Poor Fortune

Disclaimer: I do not own Jak and Daxter.

**Vacation or War-Endgame  
><strong>**Chapter Fifty-Poor Fortune**

The arena was packed, despite the fact that it was only shortly after daybreak. The trouble trio had arrived on time and ready to go, Loor once again strapped in with her lighter holster for her stave and her pistol locked and loaded. There was something different about the crowd today, a certain quality to the whole atmosphere that had her more on edge than she thought she was capable of. She knew, the moment the doors were opened and she walked in with Jak at her side, today was not going to be an easy day for them.

Damas was seated where he always was, Pecker perched upon his arm and shouting introductions over a crowd that was already bellowing for blood. Loor didn't hear, or care to hear, what the bird brain was going on about. It was time for them to prove their salt as wastelanders, and the only thing she wanted to do was get it over with as fast as possible. Even up here, far above the field, she could feel the general vibration that the machinery below sent through the place. Remembering Jak's advice, she did her level best to not look down at it. She instead waited for him to start moving first and kept her eyes firmly locked on the back of his head as she followed him to the elevator that would take them down there.

_This is nuts._ Was all she could think to herself. _Completely insane. What am I even doing here? _

"You okay, angel?" Daxter had to ask, looking back at Loor from Jak's shoulder. "C'mon, we're one last nasty fight from getting a little respect around here!"

"I know." She nodded, speaking over the general roar of the crowd and skipping over the glare she would have usually served Daxter for calling her something that suggested innocence. They were only a few paces from the lift. She could hear some of Pecker's prelude now. Something about the bravest man winning, or some shit like that. Her heart was beginning to thud and her neck, nerves causing her to look out at the crowd. So much screaming, and they weren't even in combat yet. What was so exciting about the final test? What had all of these people going ape-shit? "I just... have a bad feeling about this."

"Too late to back out now, sweets." Daxter snickered, making the jump from Jak's shoulder to hers as they got to the elevator. They were headed down. Loor felt like she left her stomach behind when it moved. Something about the air made her feel the intense need to be anywhere _but_ where she was.

In that moment she blinked, trying to focus on her personal awareness and senses. What she was feeling, it wasn't the sense that something was about to go wrong, was it? She remembered that feeling; a wrenching and horrible thing that had yanked at her mind at times previous. It had been her only hint of when she really needed to watch her step to preserve the continuity of events that she held so very dear. Granted, she no longer had any knowledge of where this crazy little train was going, but Jak and Daxter had always experienced those moments with her in the past... it had been a universal thing. The world letting them know when something was about to go to hell.

What she was feeling was not that sense. There was nothing indicatively _wrong_ about this situation; she just had butterflies.

"You've done just fine till now; what's got you squeamish?" The ottsel pressed.

Daxter made a good point. She'd made a good warrior when she didn't remember being a normal little kid from sleepy small-town Minnesota. She'd been disgusted by these practices, but it hadn't changed that she was actually pretty good at it. Better with Jak's help. It was time to do this shit.

"Nothing important." She said as the lift descended, hitting the bottom with a thud that was now familiar to her. It was a lie; her history _was_ important... to her, at least. But right now? At this moment? She had to find that spot in her brain that she'd gotten to know quite well back in Haven, where the coming gore would not be committed to her long term memory if she could help it.

Looking up, she saw what they had to deal with this time. The platform they had to work with took up all the space the pit had to give, long walk-ways stretching out in a cross-cross pattern within a massive square. At each right-angle where one path met another a single circular platform stood up out of the machine works. From each circle platform rose a large square box that looked like it would make good cover in a firefight, as well as high ground that would be good for picking off baddies from a distance. And, as she'd come to expect with all the energy she'd already sensed in the air, the pipes were already lowered to the flat faces of the outside square; the lines that would bring eco-tainted men to them for the fight.

What she hadn't expected was someone at the bottom of the lift, waiting to go back up.

"Artimus!" Loor couldn't help her surprise, looking at him. "Why are you down here?"

"Making final preparations." Was his answer. It was strange to see him like this; in full public without his mask. Everything else was the same; his faded and blackened armor, the leather strap around his neck, the thin blade strapped to his hip, but simply being able to see his face changed who he was completely. He was looking seriously at them as they got off the lift, stepping onto the metal walkways. "You two are very promising... remember that this is combat to the death. Kill all of your enemies, or Damas will make you pay with your own lives." He reached out both hands, clasping both of them by an arm. "Give it your all."

Both Jak and Loor jolted when Artimus touched them; the transfer was a clear sense to both of them. In a second of skin-to-skin contact with the both of them he had given them both a small charge of light eco from his own body. He didn't give them time to question it, letting go and passing between them to get to the lift. In seconds he was up and away.

"That... doesn't make me feel better." Loor muttered. Artimus thought it was necessary to come down here and give them both a charge of light eco for healing abilities. That meant he thought they were going to get hurt.

"Just don't look down." Jak reminded, morph gun in hand as he moved for one of the corners of the outside square. Daxter leapt from her shoulder to go back to his usual partner. She could see Jak was switching over to the blaster mod; long range and a higher rate of fire. No doubt he was going to take the high ground and snipe targets from afar.

Keeping his advice in mind, she started moving for the center of the place. It put her furthest from all of the pipes that would send enemies at them. She'd have a long and straight corridor to shoot down targets, and take down anyone who got too close with her stave. She had her pistol in hand as she walked, drawing out the rod with the other and expanding it.

Her heart was in her throat. She wasn't going to deny it; she was scared of what was going to happen.

She couldn't let it stop her.

The sense of eco in the air suddenly spiked as the pipelines opened with their usual _bang!_ Loor hoped this would be the last time she had to hear it. She began to turn in tense circles, looking to sight which one would produce enemies first. In her sweeps she saw that she was right about Jak's positioning; he'd taken to the highest point of one of the far corners. He'd be keeping look-out for her. Since she was in the middle she was going to be the first thing these man-made-monsters would see. In all rights, that made her bait.

Bait with a gun.

* * *

><p>There had been no surprise when this event turned into another endurance trial. Loor had gone through all of her bullets by the time the flow of flesh began to slow down, switching to melee and tossing more of her adversaries over the side of the walkway than she engaged in true bouts of combat, doing her best not to listen to the sound that produced when they went over the edge. She had to keep reminding herself that most of these men were already dead; they had no awareness of their fate, or what their bodies were going though. What had made these people men was long gone. She was fighting masses of flesh kept moving by a few brain impulses and the dark taint of eco, nothing more.<p>

Without the light eco, is this what she and Jak would have become? Is this what would have happened to her if her human psyche had given in to the eco and Lyra had taken over? Perhaps she was a bad example; Lyra would use up the eco left in their body, and they'd die within a few hours, if not less. Jak, on the other hand...

Best not to ponder it; they had escaped that fate.

On the subject of eco, Loor was finding herself quite saturated. Going from long range to short range she'd gotten several sprays of blood, her body sapping the eco from the source upon contact and feeding it into her mind and body. It was different than times previous; Lyra exerted no pressure on her. Least, not directly. Sariea was standing in her way, no doubt, keeping her from shoving forward and allowing Loor to focus on the task at hand; not dying. Loor was aware of the growing heat in her body, but it didn't burn her. She felt powerful, but not fearful. In a word, it was incredible.

The numbers grew thinner; she felt a smile spreading over her face as she knew she and Jak were getting the upper hand. He was picking off targets before they got to her, and soon she was running out of work on her end. With a glance around it looked like this trial was coming to an end, and she took that moment to book it to where the boys were. She'd defend Jak's platform while he kept playing sniper and let him handle the clean-up round. As she ran she saw the pipes being lifted back up and away from the playing field; that was it! They just had to clean up the nasties on the ground and they'd be done.

Getting to Jak, she hopped over to the platform and planted her back against it, panting and looking around. She was sodden with blood, and knew she probably didn't smell any better than she looked, but fuck it she was alive!

A moment later Jak had come down from his vantage point, still holding the blaster tight to his chest and giving her a glance and a nod. "Looks like we're done." He said, thought it was barely loud enough to get over the roar of the crowd.

The words were hardly out of his mouth before that roar got a lot louder. Loor didn't think it possible, but the spectators had entered an even greater frenzy, the sound exploding forward and making her wish she had earplugs. "The hell?!" She shouted, looking to peak her head out and see what was going on... only to draw it back again. "Shit! Someone's coming down from up top, armed and dangerous!"

"You've gotta be kidding me..." Jak growled, rolling his eyes. It wasn't enough that they kept surviving, they had to take out someone who _wasn't_ a half-dead freak of nature? Still, he was ready. Switching places with Loor he scooted to the corner she'd peaked her head around, his finger on the trigger and ready to finish this final trial.

Jumping out around the corner and leading with this gun, Jak's jaw fell open in shock.

"Sig?"

"What?" Loor dove out after him, standing at his side and almost not believing her eyes. The person who had come down from the top had come straight to their little slice of cover, ready to do battle. In front of her stood a tall and heavily built man with dark skin, covered from head to toe in armor made of steel and metal head parts. He was missing one eye, replaced with a red-lensed mechanical prosthetic, the other one dark green and narrowed to look down the sights of a long weapon with a heavy gun-head, also shaped like a metal head's skull.

This was Sig. Their friend, Sig.

Their friend the wastelander, Sig. A fact the trio had managed to forget.

"Jak? Loor? Daxter?" Sig's eye widened in shock, his weapon lowering slightly as he was just as surprised to see them as they were to see him.

Daxter grinned. "SIG!"

"Well, don't you three look sorrier than ever!" Was all Sig could get out, sounding like he was still processing the shock of what was going on.

"What are you doing here?" Jak asked, remembering their setting... and what Artimus had told them.

Loor's gut-feeling was confirmed when he answered. "Honing my skills." He raised his gun again, taking aim at the trio once more. "Let's finish this."

"Whoa!" Jak put his hands up, holding the blaster by the top and letting it point to the sky as well as backing off a step. "Come on, Sig. I'm not gonna fight you!"

Sig shook his head, looking up at where Damas was, still watching them. Loor looked too; she could make out no details of her presumed king but she had the feeling he was rather intent on the current events. "If we don't, he'll kill us all." Sig explained, looking down at them again. "The rule of the arena! Sorry... nothing personal."

Jak and Daxter stood like deer in the headlights, staring at Sig. Loor watched the scene between them, her mouth opening to protest and realizing nothing was going to stop what was about to happen.

_Something's gone wrong. This has to be wrong! _

Diving forward with her rod in hand, she flipped it up and used the hooked blade to take hold of the end of the peacemaker that Sig held, driving it into the ground with another yank as he wavered on shooting.

"Loor, what the hell?!" Jak shouted, dropping his own weapon to yank her back and away; the last place he wanted her to be was between him and a gun barrel.

"What the hell yourself!" She snarled, struggling to get free; Sig was still standing there, looking like he was hesitating on shouldering his gun again. That was fine, it gave her time. In this moment she was reminded of her main concern. Jak was the hero. No matter what happened, he had to survive. Nothing else mattered. Even if he didn't _want_ to save the world again, it seemed wheels were turning for exactly that. Something was going to happen, something big and horrible, and Jak had to be alive to deal with it.

If she had to kill someone to make that so, she would. She was an extra; if something had gone wrong it was likely her fault, and thus it was her job to fix it.

She had to fix this.

Sig shook his head, dropping his weapon instead of raising it. "Cool it, Cherry... I can't do this."

"You just said one of us had to!" She roared, getting her feet on the ground again and straining to get herself free of Jak's grip. "Damnit, Jak, don't you get what's happening here?! Leggo!"

"Loor, stop!" Daxter shouted. "Killin' friendlies is outta the question, I don't care what's on the line!"

Jak's grip tightened, almost to the point of being painful. "The last thing I want you to do for me is kill for me." He muttered. She was only able to hear him because he was right up against her. "_Lauren..._ stop."

Slowly, the wind faded from her sails. As fear and panic drained from her mind, something else occurred to her. She didn't _feel_ anything. Oh, sure, all her senses were present and accounted for, but the same sense she had been pondering before was not present. Nothing felt _wrong_ here. As far as she could sense... this was meant to be.

Her struggles died and she, like everyone else on the platform, dropped her weapon. All eyes turned to Damas, who had leapt to his feet and was shouting over the crowd as an even greater of explosion of sound came from them; that of outrage. Three people and an ottsel had just ruined their blood sport, and the sound was violent enough to be weaponized.

The elevators were filling with armed men; guards to capture them.

"I just know I'm gonna regret this..." Sig muttered.

That summed it up nicely.

* * *

><p>An armed escort had led them to Damas's throne room, where guards stood by to rip them apart if they so much as twitched the wrong way. Loor found herself standing to Jak's left side, Sig to his right and avoiding making eye contact with either of them. Daxter had moved off of Jak's shoulder, going to the floor and trying to make himself invisible while looking fearfully at their current keepers. As may have been expected, the king didn't show up right away. He likely had to calm nothing short of a riot after their performance in the arena, and hopefully deliberate on what would be done with them... since they hadn't been executed outright.<p>

Loor had to be hopeful for something other than death. Death didn't make sense at this point. Something was still happening.

She looked to Jak, searching for some reassurance, only to get a brief frown before he copied Sig's behavior and locked his gaze forward. Oh, right. He was mad at her for trying to attack Sig. Perfectly fair, she mentally noted. If she'd taken a moment to think before acting upon her own self-righteous arrogance she would have known better.

She should have known better.

Mentally punching herself, she also put her eyes forward and angled them down towards her toes.

Moments later, Damas entered. He came in not from the lift but by way of a side-passage that Loor hadn't noticed before. She'd be willing to bet it led to the living quarters as well as the arena. With a brisk step and communicated conflicted irritation he took his place in front of his throne. Standing before three offenders of the arena, he appraised each of them with sharp violet eyes, a tight frown serving to make his face look dangerous. Vicious, even. The longer he studied them, the more conflicted he became. The silence stretched on, raising the tension with Loor's heart rate.

Finally, he burst upon the three of them.

"How _dare_ you defile the purity of the arena!" He snapped, twisting around to Sig. Sig, whom Loor figured also should have known better... though she didn't exactly want to argue with his decision not to kill them. "Sig, your time in Haven City has poisoned you!" He then wheeled about to stab a finger and both her and Jak. "And you, newcomers! You deserve _no_ mercy. I should toss the three of you into the jaws of the desert!" Disgusted, he turned his back on them to gaze at the window beyond his throne.

That was what was to happen to them? Rejection from another city? Loor remembered what Artimus had told them about the marauders; men too wild to live by Spargus law. The same men who largely populated the arena as cannon fodder. Maybe she'd end up back there, dead with Lyra's beastly form and psyche left in control on a steady drip of eco as long as she'll keep ripping up new initiates-

"However..."

Damas turned his head to look at them over his shoulder, eyes still narrow but a faint hint of a wry expression showing. "Sig, your years of service as our spy in Haven have earned you a chance to redeem yourself... but _only_ this once!"

Loor was surprised, but Jak voiced his own shock and curiosity before she could, looking to the big wastelander. "A spy?"

Sig grumbled, hitting Jak with an elbow and saying something too quiet for Loor to hear.

Damas didn't wait for the minor squabble, instead moving to explain the opportunity afforded to Sig. "There is a nest of metal-pedes not too far from here. They have been harassing our artifact carriers for some time. Sig, I want you and Jak to drive into the heart of the nest and take out all the creatures you find inside."

"Just us?" Jak asked the question, realizing he was being included on Sig's opportunity for redemption... and his question pointing out that Loor hadn't been mentioned.

She was looking up at Damas, shock running through her as well as fear. What was going to happen to her? Damas had just described a suicide mission to the boys, and she wasn't exactly raring to go along with them, but she had to assume she was in just as much trouble as them.

Damas continued leering at Jak, not even glancing to Loor. "Your partner would have completed the test, had you not held her back. I find fault with you, not her. Should you not return, she will be given her second chance in the arena itself, whether she will either truly prove herself or die."

_Oh. Beautiful. _

Jak's face reflected a similar thought, dripping in just as much sarcasm.

"I'd say good luck..." Damas actually had a small smile now as he went to his throne to sit down. "But then luck won't help you."

* * *

><p><strong>The Author's Corner<strong>

HO JEEZ

I am alive.

For some reason.

Either way, here's a new chapter.

I should have been in bed like three hours ago.

-Loor


	51. Warning Shot

Disclaimer: I do not own Jak and Daxter.

**Vacation or War-Endgame  
><strong>**Chapter Fifty One-Warning Shot**

Loor had been left to her own devices within the city, Jak and Sig making a speedy exit to do their task sooner rather than later. She'd followed them to the garages, of course, to see them off. Now she was back on the streets of Spargus, feeling downright aimless.

Time alone led her to thinking; perhaps the most dangerous activity she took part in when all things were considered. The morning wore on as she found a shadow to hide in, ignoring the coming heat as she slid down to put her butt on the sandy ground. On her own and without a job to do, she finally set her mind to laying out this whole ugly bag of snakes out straight; going through her reclaimed memories and the life she'd been living without them. Doing so was a strange experience to say the least; she'd been a different person when she hadn't remembered who she was. At the very same time that strangeness was also fascinating, and in time she came to two important conclusions.

First had to do with what she'd seen at the temple, during her half-aware state. That dream she'd had... the question was, was it really a dream? Had her broken mind made up a little adventure for her and Lyra to walk along on, or had she actually seen that set-up inside a precursor temple? The better question was that if it was indeed real, what was it doing there? The uncertainty was something she couldn't live with. When Jak got back, assuming nothing else was pending for them, she decided she was going to go back out to the temple just to prove it to herself. If he had to do something else, that was fine. He was the hero, he had lots of stuff he had to do. _She_ on the other hand... well, she was an extra, but it seemed she was an acceptable one. As long as she left her senses open she would know when she was going too far, and this experience had been exclusive to her.

She needed to know if it had been real. She needed to know what she'd really seen.

The other thing she figured out... well, that was something she needed to share with Jak.

Assuming he and Sig were successful. She felt no reason to doubt at this point, but there was no denying the fact that she was worried about them. Two warriors and an ottsel against a whole nest of wasteland metal heads sounded like a bad idea. Here was hoping whatever vehicle they took was a whole new flavor of bad-ass.

"Loor?"

Blinking, she came out of her own head and looked up to see someone else had come to share her shade. "Ryan." She managed a smile despite her morning. She was sure he'd been there to see it; maybe that's why he'd come to see her despite the fact that she was sorta hiding. "Have a seat if you've got a second." She invited anyway. She was done with her own brain case for now. Ryan would be a handy distraction to keep her from entering her mindscape on curiosity about the new thing living in her mind and body, as well as how well Lyra was dealing with it.

"Damas decided not to punish you, huh?" He asked while sitting down next to her.

Shame went through her at that thought; she'd been spared punishment because she'd almost done something monumentally stupid. "Yeah... Can't say I'm too happy about it. I mean, happy to still be alive, of course, but... What I almost did..."

"You scared me." Ryan laughed a little. "Even _I_ felt that one, all the way out in the stands."

"You...?" She had to look at him, shaking away her surprise only a second later. Why wouldn't Ryan be able to feel it? She did, Jak did, Daxter did, even Vin had shuddered at the utter sense of _wrongness_ that would take at times when things were going bad. It seemed to hit anyone who was involved and aware enough to notice it. "Jeez... wonder what even causes that..."

"Something that knows what's supposed to happen." Ryan answered her with a shrug; he was guessing. "Think Damas felt it too?"

"He was probably too pissed to realize the other shit going on." She growled with a slight frown. She hated all these questions. There needed to be more answers. There was no science in 'feelings' people got about stuff. Gut feeling wasn't anything, but shared phenomenon... she had to assume there was something real that was causing it. Just like she had to assume Ryan knew that Jak and Sig hadn't been killed or thrown out because that wasn't the question the guy had led with; no doubt he was sneaking around like his sister had before. It was his business to know things, now. "Damnit..."

He gave her a look as she put an additional curse on the end of her answer. "What?"

"Trying to puzzle all this shit out, that's what. There's never enough information." She huffed while shaking her head. "That feeling has been something from the very beginning, but there's other stuff too. The eco crystals Jak and I have been picking up, a communicator we saw in the desert, that other... creature... person... thing out there, that weird waking dream I had when my brain was healing... Artimus too... Veger, Seem and her 'Day Star' doomsday prophecy... I mean, not to be whiny but what the _hell_ is going on out here?"

"Wishing you'd spent more time gaming, huh?" Ryan asked with an ill-placed smile. She glared at him as if to tell him to knock it off. "Hey, ain't easy for me either! When Artimus showed up... I mean, thanks for sending him my way, but I thought my heart was gonna burst when I saw him. I'd like to use him as an informant, but it looks like he might be part of the action. He's a native, so he might be..."

"Native with light powers... yeah, best to keep him in the dark as best you can. He could just be a freak accident, but if he's a player... telling him too much could mess some shit up."

"Y'know..." Ryan's voice had gone soft, leaning his head back on the building they were sitting against. "I was the next volunteer in line behind him. Veger's project? I had no idea what it was, but I had signed up for it right behind Artimus... if he hadn't been a success, who knows? Maybe I would have gone next. And with how easily people from our era soak up eco augmentation... This is going to sound horrible, but I'm really happy Artimus went before me. I'm happier that he's still alive."

"... people from our era..."

Loor was staring out with a blank look on her face, though it was slowly morphing into the face she made when she was thinking too hard. Ryan waited for her to add something to the thought, but she was broken out of it before it could go anywhere. Just as her brow was knitting down her comm. unit went off against her hip, making her jump and let off a small yelp that was only contained by slapping a hand over her own mouth.

"_Uuugh..."_ She growled while fumbling the little device out of her pouch. "... hate that reaction... so much... Oh, look who's calling..." She answered with a press of a button, the video feed opening up on Jak's face obscured by his scarf and goggles. "Hey guys, you all still in one piece?"

"_Yeah. We're on our way back." _Jak answered. _"Damas still sounds a bit grumpy, but whatever. Sig says we should keep all our stuff with us because we're on thin ice. If something nasty happens, we're not gonna have the chance to run back to Ryan's place and pick up stuff." _

"Living with our lives on our backs." Loor pointed out dryly. "I'll go pick everything up and meet you at the gate?"

"_Sounds good." _

"Thin ice." Ryan chuckled as Loor cut the connection, tucking the device away while standing up. "Odd expression to use in a desert."

"Fits well enough." She turned to offer him a hand. "Considering the fact that I was just given the order to pack up our shit in case things go tits-up."

Ryan took her hand while blinking at her, his mouth slightly open for several seconds before he actually managed to say anything. "Where the heck did you learn that kind of language? Jeez, sweetie... Call me old fashioned but it seems like every time I see you, you're slinging expletives around like its going outta style."

"You _are_ old fashioned compared to me." She giggled while moving quickly. "Born a good decade before me, if I remember right."

"Oh, like that matters." He pouted at her a little, giving her a push while trotting to keep up.

"Sure, sure, you were raised by your big sister, born nearly twenty years before you were, in a primeval village with a resident mad scientist. That's _so_ much more modern. Where as I was born exactly six days before the officially accepted date of birth for the internet, giving me unsupervised access to pretty much any nasty material I liked as long as the damn modem connecting didn't wake anyone up... oh right, and mum's a butcher. That helped my vocabulary a lot, no doubt about that."

"I..." Again, Ryan paused. "I don't want to know..."

"Smart man." She snickered, finding herself oddly cheerful.

* * *

><p>As expected, Loor met Jak back at the gates after picking up all the eco crystals and her new gun from Ryan's place. She'd loosened the chest straps of the larger weapon's holster, wearing it on top of her effects just so she didn't have to spare an extra hand to carry it. Having managed to fit the crystals into the pouch on her hip and relocating her comm. unit to the ever-convenient boob pocket, she'd taken to having her new and heavy weapon slung across her shoulders with both arms hanging on it lazily.<p>

Jak had met her at the door, motioning her into the garage instead of coming past the threshold into the city. That was unexpected, but she entered anyway and looked around. Daxter was sitting on one of the bigger vehicles in the garage, and Sig was nowhere to be seen. Neither was Kleiver, making them the only ones there, and the whole scene eerily quiet and tense.

"What's up?" Loor asked as the door thudded shut behind her.

"We got a call." Daxter spoke up before Jak could, standing up and hopping from car-to-car to get closer to the couple by the door. "Just as we got back to the city and Sig took off."

"Who from?"

"Ashelin." Jak answered. The way he said it reflected that he wasn't sure what to think about this; people they had known in the city might as well have come from another life at this point.

Loor thought for a moment while one arm dropped off of her heavy gun, the weapon passing into her hand as she brought it off of her shoulders and rested the weight on her hip instead. Ashelin. The Baroness, current leader of Haven city... or what was left of it. The person who had given them the beacon that had allowed Damas to find them in the first place. Somehow, she'd known about Spargus. Damas. There was another connection here. "... What did she want?"

"Says she's out here." Daxter had his arms crossed over his chest, looking less than impressed. "Wants to see us, that was it. There's an oasis that she sent us the location for."

"Here's betting she can't stay long... City must be in bad shape if she's willing to come all the way out here to check if we're all still alive."

"Jak wasn't planning on giving her the time of day." Daxter nodded. "But I agree, stuff must be pretty nasty back in Haven."

"We're not actually talking about this, are we?" Jak demanded with irritation. "Who _cares_ about Haven? I don't care how bad of shape the city is in, no way in hell I'm going back just because the Baroness came out to the sandbox and asked real nice."

"Might not ask nice." Loor pointed out. "Let's not forget our first hellos were exchanged over a gun pointed at _your_ head."

Silence was allowed between the three of them. It seemed none of them _wanted_ to go out there.

"That creature is still out there... it might even be human right now. No doubt Ashelin is out here with some vehicle that could get off this rock." Loor pointed out. "We... might as well go, just to warn her off. I don't care if she's begging on bended knee, honestly, but I'm not going to leave some city girl to get her ass munched by something nasty, or attacked by some wild-woman trying to get out of here. It's just the right thing to do. Otherwise, she's a sitting duck."

"She seemed to know enough about this place." Jak remained unmoved. "Leave her to her own stupidity."

"She _was_ a friend, once..." Daxter mused. "And no one knew about that nasty that attacked Loor. And the metal heads around here... Only fair to give her a heads-up, Jak. Ten-second head start and all that, then you can take pot-shots at whatever she flew out here!"

Jak still looked mildly upset, more so as Loor and Dax ganged up on him. Finally, with a huff and a roll of his eyes, he gave in. "Fine. I should thank her for that beacon anyway."

"Can we take the Dune Hopper?" Loor asked. "I... wanted to go back to the temple, assuming nothing comes up."

"The temple?" Daxter asked as Jak shrugged. He saw no harm in taking that specific car. "What for, sweets?"

"When I was coming around, I had... some kind of waking dream, or something. I went somewhere in the temple, and I don't know if it was real or not. If it was, I think it might have something to do with our new friend out in the desert. I figured it wouldn't hurt to just go up there and verify."

"Why didn't you say something when we were there?" Jak asked the three of them moved to saddle up, getting up into the tall vehicle while strapping in, Loor putting her big gun down by her feet and holding the gun head with her knees.

"My brain was jammed with everything else." She laughed slightly, shrugging. "Can you blame me? Everything coming back all at once, and..." She trailed off, frowning a little and lowering her head. She still felt bad for smacking him.

"It's cool, toots." Daxter assured with a chuckle while settling on her lap and using the loosely strapped extra holster on her body as his own personal body restraint. "We're glad to have ya back, even if you ain't at full speed yet. Makes you easier to keep up with!"

"First Ashelin," Jak said while rolling the engine over. "Then we'll go find out what you might've found."

* * *

><p>The desert was fairly calm today, seeming downright placid compared to the storm the day before. Goggles and scarves were still employed during the drive towards the location that had been sent to Jak's comm. unit, and Loor was beginning to wish for some gloves. All she had to protect her hands were some old bits of cloth wound around her fingers and hands up to her wrists. Honestly, she could do with some armor all around. The bare skin that was showing just made her feel more venerable, though she supposed the rips in the belly of her shirt should have been the thing that made her worry the most.<p>

If not for the light eco, she would have been dead.

The oasis was hidden at the foot of a mountain; a small body of what one could only assume to be spring water surrounded by oddly thick vegetation. Proof that any desert was just a few drops of water away from being a jungle. They were far from the city, the trip having taken at least an hour. At first Loor wondered if Ashelin had already given up on them and taken off, but that was not the case.

The red headed Baroness stood by a blue and yellow FL cruiser, the vehicle having partially blended into the water and making it somewhat difficult to see at first. Ashelin leaned on it with a weather-eye on the horizon, wary of danger and tense when they came over a high rising dune before coasting down to where she was. She remained tense until she could see who was in the vehicle, finally relaxing and stepping away from the water to greet them.

Daxter had gone to the ground ahead of his partners as Jak killed the engine, he and Loor getting out and pushing protective gear out of the way to leave their faces unobstructed.

Jak didn't look happy to be here. He looked conflicted; helping out was natural to him, but he honestly didn't want to be involved. Loor could understand the feeling; he was sick of the city's shit. Sick of everyone's shit.

"Hey baby!" Daxter shouted out to Ashelin while grinning, his partners following after him. "Ya thought you dumped me, huh? I knew you'd be back for some more orange lovin'!" He then lost his friendly tone, gesturing to himself. "Get a good look, it's the last time you get to see it."

"What are you doing out here?" Loor asked, cutting to the chase as Ashelin rolled her eyes at Daxter's antics. "Long way from home, ain't it?" Even she found herself sounding hostile; whether it had to happen or not, Ashelin reminded her of all the ugliness that had been pulsing through her brain when they'd been banished. Jak wasn't helping, standing there with his arms cross over his chest like he was holding himself back.

"Jak, Loor..." Ashelin could likely sense all of this, trying to take the diplomatic approach. "It's good to see you both."

Daxter wasn't having it. "Listen, toots," He said, for once using the term as an insult instead of a nickname, "_You_ left us in the desert! So talk to the tail, cause the whiskers ain't listening!" With that he turned, gesturing to his partners. "We out, guys."

"That beacon you gave me..." Jak trailed off, wanting to follow Daxter's lead but having trouble now that they were face-to-face with Ashelin. Both his nature and curiosity were going to get the better of him. "Thanks."

"I knew Damas would find you." Ashelin said, confirming Loor's suspicions of a connection. "He doesn't miss much in his desert."

"How do you know our dear sand king?" Loor saw fit to push.

"It doesn't matter now." Ashelin sounded as if she were nervous, or simply desperate. With the greetings done with, she saw no reason to stand on ceremony. "I need you both to come back to the city. We're losing the fight. Veger is drunk on power and he's taken command. He doesn't-"

"_Veger_?" Loor couldn't help it. "Veger's taken command? How?"

"The council saw fit to elect a more... experienced leader during this time of crisis." It was clear the words made Ashelin feel sick. "I have some executive power, but without more support I can't do anything to remove him from his place."

"So you need us to cast you in a rosy light again?" Loor knew she was glaring, but her mouth was running ahead of her in an unprecedented moment of eloquence under pressure. "Politics!"

"No, saving lives!" Ashelin snapped back. "I technically have the power to strip Veger of his title and everything else, but no one is going to respect the decision until I have clout in the city again, and I know you two are the ones for the job! We're losing ground every day Veger is on the top, and nothing is going to change unless we remove him-"

"Shut up you two!" Jak suddenly snapped, his head twisting around. Daxter had gotten back up on his shoulder, and the whole group of them listened. There was a noise on the wind...

Engines.

"Look out!"

* * *

><p><strong>The Author's Corner<strong>

Loor may not be a native, but she seems to slowly be getting used to the idea.

Even if it's a total heat-of-the-moment accident most of the time.

ONWARDS!

-Loor


	52. New Friends

I do not own Jak and Daxter. Sorry!

**An additional note: **A recent review noted the fact that I am extremely cruel to Jak in these stories because he's already suffered losing Loor once when her brain fried, and as it is with any couple one of them is going to end up losing the other when they eventually grow old and die. Or, y'know, whatever happens to them. That same review also noted that while this is sad, it does have the two of them living life to the fullest, despite the fact that the eventual doom of separation looms over them.

All I can say is...** love sucks** baby. Intense connections, romantic or otherwise, always have the pain of separation attached.

**Happy Valentine's day.** C|-:

**Vacation or War-Endgame  
><strong>**Chapter Fifty Two-New Friends**

The attack had been sudden, leaving no time at all to think about it. Several vehicles had come zooming in from all around, cornering three people and one ottsel against the mountain and cutting them off from their own car. To put it simply, they'd been ambushed. Jak didn't ask questions about who was attacking them or even why, ready to return fire before they'd even started shooting modified eco weapons from the hoods of their vehicles. With a glance Loor noticed he'd picked up a new mod for his gun; the Vulcan Barrel, and he was twisting the weapon around to put it to good use. She, on the other hand, dropped back as Ashelin pushed forward. The Baroness had a pistol that she was putting to good use, precision on her side as she proved herself quite the sharp shooter in moments; two bullets into an oncoming vehicle and it careened past them, into the water of the oasis. Jak's approach was a little more wasteful on the bullets, but was just as effective as the mere handful of cars was quickly followed by a small army of rag-tag men.

Hardly armored or clothed, brandishing swords and other rough weapons, Loor couldn't help but stare.

These men were like the ones she and Jak fought in the arena; they wore the same clothes and wielded the same types of weapons... the only differencing being that she got no sense of eco off of them and they were intact. These men were alive.

Marauders is what Artimus had called the other desert people; men too bad or crazy to live in Spargus, but too tough to die out in the wasteland. This was the next step down on the ladder of civilization.

She took her pistol out with one hand, sliding her stave out with the other. She'd left the big gun back in the Dune Hopper, but that was okay. The sharp shooters could take care of the drivers; she could handle the guys on the ground.

It actually disturbed her how little she had to think about it. Reloading her pistol clip, diving out beyond the cover of her comrades, she'd already ended several lives before she even _thought_ about what was happening. They were being attacked, sure enough, but she wasn't panicking.

Maybe she'd rather be panicking. This guys were still human. Savage, but human. This wasn't okay. This wasn't acceptable. This wasn't easy or fun.

_**Stop thinking, child. **_

With a wash of heat, her mental activity ceased.

At times like this, it was better not to think about what she was doing. It was better not to remember what she'd done. Many lives had passed through her fingers at this point. Shot, stabbed, pushed off the walkway into the clockwork nightmare of the arena, ripped apart by Lyra, or a combination there of. There was nothing simple about what she was doing, but she had to make it simple to survive it.

Loor understood herself as a good person.

Good people didn't kill other people.

_**You can blame me. **_Hissing assurance in her ear, the promise that she had an excuse. **_It doesn't matter, so long as we stay alive. If you like, you can make it my fault. _**

How many men had come after them? The cars had all stopped or crashed by now, and her mind came around to realize once again she'd lost time. Her heart was beating in her throat, regular red blood adding to the stains on her shirt, both hands still bearing her weapons.

Everything was silent again, save the whistle of the wind.

She twisted around to look back at her companions instead of the ground. Crumpled bodies remained, and she didn't want to see them. Instead she put her weapons away while coming back to Ashelin, who had returned to the FL cruiser she'd flown out here. "There's a lot more where that came from." Loor said, mastering her tongue and remembering why they'd come to see Ashelin. It wasn't to hear what she had to say; it was to thank her and warn her off. Marauders were just one of the dangers lurking out here.

Loor remembered the fact that she was currently carrying four eco crystals. She really should split the load with Jak; the woman who had tried to rip out her guts last time was liable to show up and finish the job if she sensed this concentration out in her 'territory', so to speak.

"I'd meant to be quicker than this." Ashelin assured in a tone that threw the blame on her and Jak for being difficult, leaning into the cruiser to retrieve something... a wide hunk of thin metal. Jak recognized it at once, and it didn't take Loor many more seconds to know what it was; the JET-Board. "Keira wanted me to give you this." Ashelin said while presenting Jak with it, who didn't refuse it. Wagering on the gift bringing some good will, she went on. "Jak, your friends need you... I need you."

Loor didn't like how she said that last bit. It sounded just a bit _too_ tender. Ashelin wasn't making a move, was she? What happened to her and Torn? Or was she just hoping that spiking the femininity in her voice would get Jak to bend? Either way, this was the wrong time to get jealous...

"The hell is that supposed to mean?" Loor snarled.

Granted, any time was the wrong time to get jealous. Didn't mean it didn't happen.

"The city threw us out, remember?" Jak spat. "They can _rot_ for all I care."

Ashelin's face reflected the fact that she was despairing. "But what about your-"

"Forget it!" Jak snapped, turning his back on her. "Just leave! We have new friends now."

Ashelin spared a glance over to Loor, green eyes begging her to help talk some sense into Jak, but all Loor could do was shake her head with a tight frown. Loor didn't really share Jak's sentiment for the city, but the fact remained that she wasn't too eager to go back as some political pawn. Ashelin wasn't a friend asking for help, she was a leader trying to manipulate support before she fell from power.

The Baroness turned her eyes to Jak once more, staring before shaking her head and reaching into a pocket, retrieving another object. This one was small, a similar size to the beacon Ashelin had given them when they'd first been dumped in the wasteland. "So the hero I knew did die in the desert..." She muttered, briefly looking at the object before going to Jak and yanking on his shoulder, forcing the item into his hand. "Or was it long before _that? _Don't you remember who you are?"

Loor had to blink at the item presented; a little amulet. The seal of Mar; the necklace that had been worn by the kid. Jak's younger self. The kid had given it to him right before he'd departed for Sandover. It had acted as a symbol of his identity; true heir to the throne of Haven, and one of Mar's bloodline. A line of warriors and heroes, besides Mar himself.

Jak eyed the amulet for only a moment before turning away again. "I'm through saving the world."

* * *

><p>The trip to the temple was troubling in how quiet and tense it was. Jak was charged up with enough angry energy to power a small town, and Loor knew the question she wanted to ask was <em>not<em> going to help. She decided she'd wait until they'd arrived, since the wrong time to try and discuss it was while navigating the dangerous steps leading up to the spire of rock in the sea. Still, that led her to not speaking at all on the way over, since she was pondering on just how to say it.

"So what now?" Daxter asked as they were still crossing the desert from the oasis to the rocky delta. "Cause uh... we all know stickin' out here in Spargus, Damas is gonna try and make us re-take that test some time, right?"

"Just as long as it isn't Sig again, it's fine." Jak's answer was short, quick, and gruff. He didn't want to talk.

"Yeah, I guess..." Daxter sounded a little nervous. "I'm just sayin', might be a good time for the three of us to pull a vanishing act for a while."

"And go _where?_"

"It's not like we can get off this rock..." Loor sighed, finally speaking up in hopes that if she talked to Daxter maybe Jak would cool off before he blew a gasket. "Million miles of ocean in every direction... not gliding over that shit, that's for sure. And here's betting there's something nasty out there preventing sea-travel, else I'm pretty sure prisoners would be brought out here on a barge, not an air train. Takes less power to float a boat."

"Takes a lot more time, though." Dax pointed out, thought it seemed perfectly useless to the conversation. Both of them were beating around the bush, and went silent again as they made it to the coast. It was time for the technical part of the trip, and the only words spoken were Jak's commands while Loor manned the jump-lever, just as before.

The temple's spire was just the same, and nothing appeared different upon their arrival. They were forced to abandon the vehicle just short of the temple entrance due to the massive columns, and it was while getting out and grabbing her heavy weapon that Loor finally decided to try and talk to Jak.

"So... that amulet... that was the kid's, wasn't it?"

"Yeah." Jak nodded a little, having pocketed the thing when Ashelin had given it to him. It was rightfully his; a childhood possession he didn't even remember. "That's an old life, Loor, a lot like yours. Kinda dumb to go chasing after it." He said while moving through the pillars of stone.

"Well... there was a door in here in the same shape, wasn't there?"

She worried that she'd crossed a line, or pushed too hard, but he just shrugged. "So what?"

Daxter, who had been on the ground, scuttled up to Jak's shoulder with sudden energy. "We should go check it out! No rush to go back to Spargus, we might as well explore every nook and cranny of this place, right? See what we can find, maybe piss ol' paint face off a little, all that good stuff. Buncha kids just goofing off and getting into stuff they shouldn't!"

Jak didn't answer right away, the trio getting to the door and entering into the wide-open inner area of the temple. Then, when it seemed like he might have been just choosing not to answer, he stopped and looked back to Loor.

"Did you have something you wanted to check out first?"

She smiled, since there was just a hint of one on his face. That was good enough for her. "Yeah! Assuming there's anything there at all... I really hope this isn't a wild goose chase. I'm sorry if it is."

"Lead the way, toots." Daxter encouraged. "It's always a bummer when you don't find anything, but when you _do,_ that's the fun of it all. Just gotta be optimistic; if you're all worried about what might go wrong you'll miss stuff."

She laughed a little, trotting to the front and leading the way to the door into the temple itself, and the many stairs they had descended the last time they were there. Moving down the steps reminded her of the strange experience she'd had then, when it had seemed the stairs had been twisting under her feet and upsetting her footing. She also remembered Lyra leading her, which was the element of the whole thing that made her question just how real it was. She may have just been hallucinating, but she had to find out the truth for herself. One hand on the wall, the other still holding her big boom stick, she took the stairs quickly with the boys following after.

It didn't take long to arrive at her destination; the hole in the wall with the water rushing through. Nothing had changed here, either. The broken section of the wall still sat on the steps, the mist of the water making little drops on the surrounding stone that came together into tiny streams, flowing down the stairs. "This is it." She said, though without much certainty. The more she thought about the episode she'd had, the more she doubted it being real.

"And what exactly is this?" Daxter asked, sounding unimpressed. He must have been expecting more.

Putting down the big gun and drawing her stave from her back, Loor put one knee on the slab of broken stone in front of the broken wall, the rod in her hand extending as she stared into the violent flow of water.

_This is it. _

Using both hands to guide her weapon, she stuck it into the flow. She was almost scared to do this little display, sure that it would hit the other wall half-way in... but she remembered going through this water. There'd been a hole on the other side. She remembered pushing herself through the incredible weight and pressure, and being soaked to the bone. Of her whole delusion, she remembered this one piece so clearly.

Her stave did not contact rock. In seconds she had reached the weapon far enough into the space to lower it to the bottom edge of the break... and let go of it, looking to the boys as she showed her empty hands... and her weapon clearly suspended between two points.

"There's another hole on the other side of this waterway." She explained hopefully, feeling some shock running through her. Shock and excitement. At least one part of what she'd gone through was real. "I went to the other side. It opens up into a small room, with a cot and a rug, and there's a hall beyond with a bunch of other cells... living quarters for the monks, I guess. But there was more." She looked back at them, trading smiles. They were excited too. "I guess I'll go first?"

"Well be right behind you." Jak agreed, reassuring her as she reached into take her weapon and replace it on her back. She'd leave the big weapon here for now, but the only thing that had been keeping her stave extended had been the force of the water on the grip. If she had tried to go through her body would have blocked that flow of water and the rod would have tried to fold up on itself, and she would have lost it. Yanking her goggles down from her forehead to hang around her neck, she made sure she wasn't wearing anything loose that would get ripped off by going through. Then, with a deep breath that she took in and held, she moved to go through.

The water was cold and swift, but her hand found the edge of rock on the other side rather quickly this time, pushing herself through with her legs and getting both hands on the other side to make the crossing in one quick motion, rolling onto the floor on the other side and getting over to the side.

Jak appeared a moment later, Daxter laid nearly flat to his back and clinging, the two of them waterlogged but coming through alright. Jak may not have needed help, but Loor found herself seizing him by the shoulder and pulling on him as he came through anyway.

The cell was just as Loor had remembered it, although quite dark. The three of them passed into the hallway beyond, which was just as dark, while Daxter hopped to the ground to shake himself dry and squeeze his tail with his hands in an attempt to get rid of more water.

"Is this right?" Jak asked as Loor looked to either side in the hall. She was trying to remember... There had been light before that had led her from this point, but maybe that had been Lyra's doing... No, it was there! A faint glow off to the right, where the hallway ended and made a sharp left turn.

"Yeah." Loor nodded, moving again with a brisk step. "It... it's not far now." She didn't even notice when she started jogging, Jak having to pick up the pace to keep up and Daxter yelping and running after them. Her heart was beating too hard for her to walk; she needed to find out what was going on. She was aware this time. She wasn't dreaming or coming back into herself after months of being broken, she was alive and well and she was going to find out what this place was. She was determined to do so.

Coming to the end of the hall, the room was there. There was more light than she remembered; torches, not candles, burning brightly and illuminating the place. The tables were there, the books, the papers, everything was as she remembered it. Dividers of leather and wood separated the room into sections, but her interest would go to those things later. She trotted into the room to get beyond a stone wall that had been built up on one side; the little prison cell she remembered.

Part of her didn't want it to be there. She'd felt horror when she'd seen what she could only guess was an experimentation table, sympathy for whatever poor soul had suffered here, and she both did and didn't want to find it.

She covered her mouth when she saw it.

The heavy door. The human-shaped cradle. The empty eco tank, and the related equipment. It was all here.

"She was here." Loor muttered behind her hand, looking as the boys joined her. "Whoever she is... the temple had a hand in this."

* * *

><p><strong>The Author's Corner<strong>

I have no idea what to say down here... so meow.

Happy reading!

Oh, right, about the **bolding issue** we seem to be having, I am aware of it. I do not know what is causing it, but I'm doing my best to fix it as it pops up. Thanks to everyone to notified me!

-Loor


	53. Identity

I don't own Jak and Daxter. And apparently the site hates ALL of my fancy formatting.

**Vacation or War-Endgame  
><strong>**Chapter Fifty Three-Identity**

Jak had ventured into the small prison cell while Loor busied herself with the books and notes that cluttered a great deal of the room. It was clear she was skimming, not reading, flipping pages quickly and only pausing every now and then to actually commit a passage to memory before moving on. He'd almost forgotten, with all the warrior stuff, that she had a scientific mind. Even if precursor symbols were not her native alphabet, she was chewing through texts with incredible speed and an ever more shadowed expression growing on her face. Whatever she was finding out, she didn't like it.

Granted, he didn't like this either. Daxter had gone to one of the tables that Loor had sat down next to, fishing books and papers off of it and shuffling them in her direction to act as an assistant. Left to himself, Jak decided to examine the most frightening set piece in the room; the experimentation table. He had no doubt that's what it was; it looked different but it was basically just another version of the chair he knew just a bit too well from Haven. The restraints were thicker and more numerous, but the intent was the same; they'd been trying to contain someone who didn't _want_ to be contained. This thing would have held its victim in the prone position, and didn't seem to have any sort of automated release. If anyone wanted to release the victim, they'd have to get within swinging range.

Jak wasn't sure who he felt more sorry for; the test subject or whomever had tortured them.

"Oh no..."

Jak looked up as Loor stood up with one book in hand and open, two others tucked under her arm. "What's up?" He asked, since she'd practically whimpered. "Find out who this poor sack was?"

"I'm narrowing it down." She was wearing a tight frown, her facing having gone white. "Hell... Okay, so all of this stuff here are either logs on the prisoner, the experiment, or information on all the shit they were running through her system... This one was one of the health journals; physical condition, food consumption, medicines, and _eco _consumption. Day by day, even hour by hour... whatever they were doing to her, she needed regular healing, using various combinations of light and green eco to do the job. It's like..." She shuddered. "They were using her as a guinea pig. They had her for a couple of months, and her weight never broke one-hundred pounds."

"What does that tell us about who she is?" Daxter asked, not getting what had Loor so upset.

"She was getting daily does of dark eco." She gestured with the book at the tank in the little prison cell. "That tank back there wasn't for experiments, like the ones that made us the way we are, it was for maintaining her eco charge. She was burning through it pretty fast if these figures are anything to go by... but..." She trailed off, looking a little sick. "Guys, don't you get it? Dark eco listed in a book of physical needs? Whoever she is... she needed eco to live. They were giving her continuous charges to keep her alive."

"Huh?" Daxter still wasn't getting it.

"It means whoever our mystery girl is..." Jak said what Loor was having trouble getting out. "She's from where Loor's from. _When_ Loor's from."

"T-that's right." Loor agreed. "That wrinkle is specific to what you could call the particular _breed_ of human being from my time. Which really narrows it down, seeing as I'm only aware of one other living person from my era currently floating around, but..." She hesitated again. "It can't be her! I know it can't. I've already seen evidence that she returns to my time, and then comes back to this-when _again_ after everything is over with. She's got two more hops of healthy time-jumps as far as I'm aware, there's no way it could be her..."

"Who?" Jak asked, standing in the doorway of the prison cell.

"It can't be her!" Loor denied, shaking her head. "There's no way... I don't think she could survive all of this at her age anyway..."

"All what?" Daxter asked.

Loor pounced on the change of subject. "These other books..." She put down the one in her hand and laid out the other two. "One is part of a continuous log of stuff they were giving her. I've never even _heard_ of most of this stuff, but it appears to be a list of natural and chemical compounds, dosage, time and date administered, the reaction the test subject had, and what reaction is on record as 'normal.' All the 'normal' reactions are... negative, to say the least. Swelling, fever, neural damage, internal bleeding, hives, numbness, vomiting... basically, we've got a little book of poisons, and this one is marked as one of several." She waved her hand at the table, sure that other volumes were hiding under the loose papers. "They were cycling her through toxic compounds, healing whatever damage it did, and then trying the next one on the list. She matched up for the most part, but whenever she didn't they marked it; less severe reactions were crossed out, more severe ones were starred."

"Ick..." The fur on Daxter's back briefly rose as he was grossed out, smoothing out at he shuddered. "That's just... _why?" _

"I have to assume Veger had more than a little to do with this, but if he was just trying to kill her he coulda just put a bullet between her eyes..." She sighed, shaking her head. "They were looking for whatever did the most damage to her, like they were looking for a special poison... Or maybe even common denominators between what substances effected her the most..."

"What about the loose papers?" Jak asked, since they were the most numerous.

"Numbers, notes between people, names of substances with adjusted dosages, watch schedules..." She snorted. "It's like someone gathered everything to do with this crap into one room. "Nothing really interesting yet, but there's a mountain of data here... I'd rather just beat the long and short of it out of Veger himself."

Her fists were clenched on top of the books. She meant it. All of this was ugly.

"Loor... Who is it?" Jak pressed. Her denial came from shock and confusion; the conclusion her mind gave her made her angry because it might've changed what she already accepted as fact.

She didn't answer right away, shuffling papers and stacking them, finding another book and briefly opening it before putting it with the other ones she'd already flipped through. "She's too old. There's no way she'd be able to take all this... And she wasn't even part of the program before. She wasn't... _isn't_ one of us. And she had a job to do. She was good at it. Now way she'd get captured or kidnapped and put through all of this... She was smart."

"_Loor." _

"Morgan!" She snapped, raising her voice. "Morgan, okay? Ryan's big sister. But that's just not possible, okay? Last time I saw her she had to be pushing forty or more; do you really think someone that old could survive the initial process of becoming like one of us, and then all of this shit? She's the only person I _know_ of, but... but maybe someone else is around here. Some other unlucky egghead from my era that thought they were gonna do something amazing for the world of energy and ended up here! I did it, Morgan did it, someone else sure as shit could do it!"

"Babe!" Daxter leapt up to Loor's shoulder, grabbing onto her head by the hair and giving her a shake. "Easy, sweets, no need to blow your top over it... let's just keep looking."

"I..." She swallowed, breath coming out in shaky bursts. "Right. First volumes should have the most information; all the groundwork and control data. Dax, the books have dates on the inside covers, help me search for all the earliest ones, okay?"

"That will not be necessary."

Shock passed through all of them; a voice had spoken from the door they'd come in through. A voice they all knew. Jak stepped out far enough to look back to the entrance, just in time for Loor to question the appearance.

"Seem? Shit, I-"

"I told you animals ought not to sniff where they do not belong." Seem cut Loor off, her presence oddly powerful for someone so small. Staring at them with red eyes from her white-painted face, it was clear she was less than pleased with their presence here... but there was more to it than that. A detail he had to note was that Seem was carrying a small pile of papers and books, moving to put them down on the floor since the tables were overflowing. "No one belongs here anymore. This room will be sealed off and the contents burned, once all has been collected. That day is not far. Then all that will remain are the memories."

"What happened here?" Loor demanded, stepping out as Seem stood straight again after putting down her burden. "Who was tortured here? Wait... _you. _When I told you about the new monster in the wasteland, you _knew." _

"I was... surprised to hear she was still alive." Seem confirmed. "Surprised as I was when my apprentice was willing to stand in the sun without the mask I made for him." Seem's gaze, though narrowed, alighted on Loor and Jak with a measure of mercy. "Surprised as I was to sense the light in you two. Powers beyond myself have accepted you, and I cannot refuse you exploration of the temple proper, but I do demand you leave this place. It has nothing for you."

"There's a monster loose in the desert wearing the skin of a woman, with a dark eco crystal, and a pile of evidence that she was at least tortured here!"

"What else do you need to know about her? An identity would not change what she is, and our project was... cut short."

"I..." Loor's voice drained for a moment. "I think she might be someone I know... now that I think about it, someone did tell me to look out for a foe with a friendly face."

"Your usual company excluded?" Seem questioned dryly.

"Hey!" Daxter shouted out. "You gonna spill the beans or not, coloring book?!"

Seem closed her eyes in momentary consideration before waving at the doorway. "Allow me to lead you back to the entrance, and I will explain along the way. Take nothing from this room; no record should remain of this inhumane act."

"Says the one who let it happen." Loor noted, not moving. Jak sent her a glance; she didn't like the idea of just letting Seem destroy all this information. He wasn't a fan of white-washing either, but he didn't doubt that Seem would have other, less civil, ways of removing them if they didn't take the current offer.

"Veger tricked us into helping him." Seem's voice turned hostile, offended at the very thought that she or her monks had participated in this willingly. "When I found out what was really going on here, what he was using my monks and this temple's resources for... I released the animal myself."

Jak stepped forward, a sort of sign that he was making the decision here. "Let's go."

"But-!"

"Loor," Jak cut her off before she could even begin to protest. "You just wanted to know that this place was real, right? Well here it is. Seem can tell us the rest." He motioned to her as Daxter got up to his shoulder, ready to move it along. "Let's just keep moving."

She pouted, her eyes skimming over the books she's been going over and reluctantly leaving them to stand by his side. "What were you trying to accomplish here?" She asked as Seem nodded at their co-operation, the group moving to the door to go back into the hallway.

"Veger told us that he wanted our help to find a cure for your... 'kind,' if that is a proper term. He gave us a girl with the taint; so far gone that she was permanently the monster. Silver hair, white skin, black eyes, horns, fangs, talons... she didn't change back. I allowed the project, and for him to direct my monks, only to find later he had abandoned the original purpose of the experiment, if that had ever been the true intent, and was instead torturing the creature. Without a way to _fix _her, he was using her to see if there was a substance or compound that was lethal to her, but not to untainted man."

"He was looking for an eco-specific poison?" Loor snorted as they left the room behind, moving quickly down the dark hallway. "Here's betting Veger was paranoid that there might have been more of us... if he found something deadly to us and harmless to regular people, he could put it in Haven's water supply to try and 'purify' the city..."

"Guy's got a few screws loose!" Daxter chastised, shaking his head.

"The fact that he is ruthless does not make him insane." Seem's tone was that of a strict teacher on the verge of a lecture. "I may not have approved of his project, but I respect is knowledge of the precursors. In this time, he seeks to be the pure leader we need to save us from the coming darkness."

"You still let the test subject go." Jak said, not really wanting to hear how Seem respected Veger.

"Even that monster has life." Seem agreed. "What they were doing to that life was... wrong. I dosed her with light eco to moderate her behavior and smuggled her out to the desert, with the expectation that she would either live or die as a beast. I admit, I thought she would die. The fact that she still lives, and now has a dark eco crystal in her possession... Whatever happens due to her continued life, I consider myself responsible. Should you get the opportunity to kill her, I would appreciate it."

"No human form..." Loor muttered, her brain locked into overdrive. "Would suggest that her human psyche is gone, or at least overtaken by the darkness. The physical changes have to do with the energy and the difference between the minds... which was our fate before the light... ugh, it still doesn't make sense. Seem, did you get _anything_ as to what her identity may have been?"

"No name was given to us. Veger told us she was a reject from Haven... waste produced by the war, or something along those lines, if I were to try and quote."

"And when did you get her? _When_ did she arrive?"

Seem sighed, sounding as if she were rolling her eyes. "We do not use the same calendar as you Haven folk, you know. Even if I gave the date as I knew it, it is unlikely it would mean much to you."

"Then a relative event." Loor wasn't giving up. "When the Baron fell in Haven city, several KG and sympathizers were thrown out to this forsaken little island. I'm sure you noticed the influx of newbies; how soon did she arrive after that?"

"Babe, why does it matter?" Daxter asked, wary of the look on Loor's face.

"It matters." She snapped. "Seem?"

"It may have been two days after... no more than three, and she was brought to us. I was not present at her arrival, so I cannot be more exact."

Jak watched as Loor nodded, going quiet and becoming rather intent on her feet. She was thinking again.

Question was, about what? What did the time of this animal's arrival have to do with anything?

He'd have to ask later.

* * *

><p>The route Seem had taken to get them back to the main temple had been long and confusing, going through several sections of disrepair that looked as if they could collapse. Seem also hadn't bothered to talk to them much beyond the questions that had already been asked, so the trip had been strange and tense. Eventually, after more twists and turns than any of them would ever be able to remember without a map, they arrived at what appeared to blank wall but turned out to be a door, opening up and letting in the blinding light out the outside. With surprising strength Seem literally shoved them out into the circular central space of the temple, the stone door grinding closed before anyone could turn and question what had just happened.<p>

Loor had enough questions on her brain without Seem's antics. She was already moving to go in again through the door that led to the stairs; she'd left her big gun on the stairs and she wanted it back. She also didn't want to talk about the thoughts on her brain just yet.

"_Loor!" _Daxter sounded as if he was whining when she didn't even glance back at them. "What is your _problem?_"

"What _isn't_ my problem?" She snarled back; she didn't want Daxter asking her questions right now. She didn't want anyone asking her anything right now. "I told you guys, it can't be Morgan, and I'm right. The time-line doesn't fit."

"Time?" Jak asked, his tone deadpan while following after her. They had further exploring to do inside the temple anyway, might as well keep moving. "You really wanna bring up time?"

"Yeah, I do, because there are still rules that have to be followed, even _with_ all the stupid precursor devices floating around that manipulate it. I saw Morgan the night of the victory party. She was fine. She was about to head home. According to Ryan, she showed up again right before he got thrown out of the city, a little worse for wear but ultimately okay. She wasn't like us. She had a nasty case of eco contamination on her hand, but she hadn't been through the Baron's science wing. Even _if_ something had happened and she'd gotten kidnapped or some shit, there's just not enough time for her to be _that_ bad. Jak, think about it. Even with the new branch of the Dark Warrior Program that I went through, it took two weeks for me to get to what I have to assume is somewhere around your level, which I have to assume is similar since we got sick at the same time, and we've been on our own for several months after the fact. It took us that long to get sick, to start dying. Whoever this test subject was, she was _much_ further down the road... considering, she might have already been dead when Veger sent her out here."

"Already dead?" Daxter sounded grossed out as they got inside and descended the stairs. "How do you figure that, toots?"

"Think about those men in the arena." She urged. "Patched together bodies, only up and walking, and violent, because of a charge of dark eco. Assuming a charge could be maintained, someone like me or Jak could still be kicking indefinitely after death. Worse, this was someone from my time, and Seem dosed her with light eco in order to release her. I... do think this creature is alive in a sense, but she's just the dark side of someone. With a dose of light... there might even be intelligence emerging to go with that beastly personality... which makes her a _lot_ more dangerous."

"Still just one girl in a sandbox." Daxter tried to put a positive spin on it. "Right?"

"We're just one guy, one girl, and one ottsel in a sandbox." Jak pointed out. "We seem to be doing well enough."

"Yeah, but we got _toys._"

"She don't need toys." Loor sighed, shaking her head. "And I still don't know who she is. I just know who she _can't_ be."

"Not really." Jak noted as they slowed on the stairs, coming up on the hole in the wall again. Loor's heavy weapon was still by it, and she picked it up while he took the lead, continuing down the stairs. "That's assuming all the usual rules apply. And, assuming all the usual rules apply, it sounds like it can't be anyone."

"Not quite." Loor sighed, the thought that was weighing heaviest on her coming back. "I mentioned it earlier... it could be a new player. Someone else from my era who pissed off a converter and ended up in the wrong place. I... hate to admit that someone _else_ might have figured it out, but it is possible... which is actually a lot more scary than it being Morgan. If it were Morgan... well, Ryan is still doing her job, and he knows what it means to be an extra... if we have another newbie..."

She'd stopped for a second, the very thought seeming to crush her.

"Then they could have already started fucking things up, and never know it... or care... and there could be others."

* * *

><p><strong>The Author's Corner<strong>

And you guys thought Jak was the only one I was cruel to. :)

Well, besides you readers, of course.

ONWARD!

-Loor


	54. Underwater Find

I do not own Jak and Daxter.

**Vacation or War-Endgame  
><strong>**Chapter Fifty Four-Underwater Find**

"Loor, you can't make yourself responsible for everyone who had the same accident as you. I mean, c'mon toots, I know you like takin' care of stuff but _everything_ can't be on your plate."

"The fact that she intercepted that eco crystal on one of our missions meant we were supposed to get it. Meant _you two_ were supposed to get it. Who knows what she's doing with it? Aside from siphoning off the power she needs to survive... Can those things be drained?"

"Fuck if we know." Jak responded roughly; they were getting to the door that matched his seal, and his mood could hardly be described as sunny. "I've never even heard of a stable eco crystal before."

"Oh, right, last time we saw crystals was back in the day!" Daxter smirked a little. "Ah... I don't miss that place at all."

"The spider caves, huh?" Loor saw fit to chime in. It was nice that she didn't have to hide this from them anymore. "Did those crystals _really_ explode after just being touched?"

"Nah, took more of a solid whack, though for some of them we just threw rocks." Daxter shrugged with a nostalgic grin. "That or let this guy go pyro on 'em." With that he ruffled Jak's hair. "And what's the worry if some nasty out in the desert drains an eco crystal? We don't even know what they're good for!"

"_That's_ the worry, Dax." Loor sighed as they hit the landing; the big circular room was exactly the same as the last time they'd been there. Off to the right was the circular portal with the door they were after. "We don't know why those crystals are being moved around, and yet we've ended up with several. Seem says they're powerful, and then tells us doom is on the doorstep. I know she may seem a bit nutty, but I'm signed on to everything happening for a reason. All the pieces are moving to indicate we're about to deal with another world-level disaster, and now I've got an extra monkeying with what could be just another pawn, or maybe a queen. I'm not scared of what I know, I'm terrified of what I _don't._"

"Chess metaphors?" Daxter asked as Jak dug in his pouch for his seal. "Did you really just toss out a chess metaphor? Babe, do me a favor and stuff your brain in a closet for a few hours! She's nasty, she scrambled your guts, sure, but what the heck ya gonna doabout it?"

"You both can shut up for a bit." Jak suggested as he stepped up to the door; his seal was glowing brightly as he did so. A moment later the bronze door came open. His frown had changed to a smile; as much as he disliked the idea of saving the world again there was nothing that could defeat the buzz of discovery. "I think we might be going somewhere."

"That's the ticket..." Daxter was smiling too; the area beyond was a sandstone hallway with a slight upward incline. "Onward and deeper!" He cheered, pumping his fist forward.

Loor snickered, rolling her eyes as she and Jak got moving. "Wonder how long this section of the temple has been sealed up..." She mused as the door remained open behind them, even as Jak tucked the seal away again. "I mean, those precursor doors won't open for just anything... I wouldn't be surprised if this section has been closed off for centuries or more."

"Now you're gettin' it toots!" Daxter grinned. "Don't be scared, be eager!"

"Enthusiasm should always be tempered with a healthy measure of fear, Dax." She batted back while looking ahead. The hall made a little turn to the left, rising up a little steeper as it did so. "Still..." She found herself grinning. They were walking somewhere no one had been for who even _knew_ how long. The very idea was invigorating and made her excited. What could be down here? Monsters? Treasures? Both? Each second of pondering left her with a growing smile and the feeling of her heart beating against her chest. As she trailed, she glanced to Jak.

He was smiling too, eyes glinting mischievously. She tensed up; she recognized this body language. A faint sense of de'ja'vu hit her as she and Jak traded glances and began to speed walk for the bend in the hall.

It had been a _long_ time since that race.

Daxter was just as surprised this time as he was back then, the two of them breaking out into a run at the same time. The ottsel yelped, clutching Jak's shoulder armor and nearly getting dislodged by the sudden burst forward. Loor threw her body into running, metal toes of her boots clinking against the stone floor as she joyed in the feeling of stretching her legs and pumping her arms as her heart goaded her to push harder and dig in as deep as she could.

She'd done so much running since this all began. Most of it had been in fear, fueled by adrenaline. She'd run to places, run away from monsters, chased after Jak, and tried to chase down her fair share of goals both physically and figuratively. Every day she'd spent at Jak's side had involved multiple miles put down on foot, and she felt the difference when she let loose and ran for pleasure. Putting her head down, there was a pulse of joy going through her brain as she ran in such a way that she felt as if she were flying. Air was rushing by her face, and it didn't matter if she was even keeping up with Jak or not. This was fun the way it was, the race was just window dressing; an excuse to sprint down the hall like a maniac.

"Whoa!"

"Loor, hold up!"

Both Jak and Daxter shouted a warning, but it was too late. Her head popped up and twisted around to find Jak had stopped so suddenly he'd ended up crouched on the ground, panting and wide-eyed at something in front of them. In front of _her,_ as she was still going full-tilt. Trying to pull back as she looked forward again, she barely got her eyes facing front before she found herself trying to run on air. The hallway had ended abruptly at an open doorway that led out into a dark and cavernous room. There may have been a path cross it or stairs down to the floor at a time previous, but that path was crumbled and gone now.

Loor tumbled out of the doorway, bound for the floor. She stumbled on the edge, pain shooting up from her ankle as the one foot she'd still had on the ledge when she realized what was happening tried to somehow save her. Then she was free in the air, falling down and curling up to make sure her head wasn't the first thing to kiss the floor.

A second later, she was wet. The impact was hard and rude as she hit several feet of cold water, inhaling some with an involuntary gasp as the shock attacked her brain. With a kick and a sweep she was back to the surface and sputtering, looking up to see what had just happened. The doorway she'd fallen out of was above her, the boys leaning out of it to see if she was okay. The massive room she'd entered was not only decrepit, but flooded. Granted, that water had just saved her from another injury it would have taken her current light eco charge to fix, but she was soon shivering. The water was _cold,_ and the fact that she was trying to hack up fluid from her lungs at the same time was not making breathing easy.

She also realized she'd released her big boomstick when she'd hit the water and stroked for the surface. The heavy gun would have sunk to the bottom, no doubt... which she couldn't see in the dark room.

"You alright, sweets?" Daxter shouted down, laughing now that she was bobbing on the surface. "Gotta be more careful around ruins like this!"

"Says the guy..." She was still coughing, shouting up at them between hard-won breaths. "Who told me... to be more... eager!"

"And you listened?" Jak pointed out, snickering at her and making his own assessment of the room. "Another door at the far end... whole lotta side passages too."

"_Great... _Shall I just freeze to death while you explore?"

"Jeez, huffy much?" Daxter had to tease. Of course. He was safe and sound up on that ledge, where Loor couldn't currently reach him. "You're the one who fell."

Loor did her best not to pay attention to Dax, making a mental to give his tail a yank later. Instead she turned where she was treading water, looking around while still getting her breath back and occasionally coughing. As Jak had said, there was another door at the far end of the room... a good four or five feet above the water level with a ruined staircase laying in the water before it. She might've been able to climb the broken pieces, but it looked precarious at best and impossible at the worst. The side passages were all the same way; they may have been balconies for this one grand room but were now ruined ledges several feet up and out of reach. "Hell of an indoor swimming pool..." She muttered, starting to stroke for one of the pieces of rock in the water that was big enough to peek above the surface. She needed to retrieve her big gun, but swimming with the rest of her effects was both difficult and inefficient. "You guys got any bright ideas how to get up to any of those?"

"C'mon Loor! You say that like we aren't the brightest bulbs in the box."

She almost jumped as Daxter's voice sounded much closer than it should have. Turning in the water to continue back-stroking to her destination, she found the boys had come down to the water... but they weren't in it, they were _on_ it. The JET-board! How could she have forgotten? Jak had just gotten it back from Ashelin, and apart from being a nifty way of getting around it was also able to hover over water as well as solid ground. Jak rode the device like a pro, a faint blue haze lighting up the bottom of the board and the water below it, to zip by where she was swimming and start turning circles around her as she kept moving for the rock she'd set her sights on. "One of you ain't!" She snapped, a sense of unfairness hitting her that she ended up soaked for trying to have a little fun, and these two didn't have to get wet at all. "I won't say which one."

"That's not very nice." Jak snickered, widening the circle as she started paddling harder and splashing a little. "We'll go check it out; just hang tight, okay?"

"I dropped my big gun." She pointed out, getting to the broken piece of stone and climbing up on it. "I'm gonna lose some of the loose cloth here and go diving for it. I just hope the water hasn't hurt it..."

Daxter cocked his head at her, which was a confusing motion to follow with the two of them winding around her. "Why would water hurt it? Metal doesn't rust that fast!"

She shrugged. "Never know what water might do to the inner workings of a weapon." She answered while starting to unwind her scarf and pull her goggles off. The tinted lenses would be of no help under the already dark water. She set herself on getting her boots off next. "I really need to study more... eco and its many times is so fascinating. If we live long enough, I'm gonna need to find a tutor or someone in the field to apprentice." She kept her mouth shut on how Vin would have made a perfect candidate... too bad he was already dead.

That memory still hurt.

"We'll figure something out." Jak snickered and struck off for one of the other passages. Loor watched him go for a moment before pulling off one of her boots with a wet sucking sound. She wasn't sure how she was going to get them on while they were still wet, but she'd worry about that later. In moments she'd yanked the other boot off and her holsters, as well as her shirt. Soon she was standing, shivering, on her rock in her sports bra and pants. She'd thought about losing the pants too, but the fabric wasn't that constricting or so loose as to cause a huge amount of drag. She could make do like this. Before she could talk herself out of it, she dove back into the water.

_On the upside, I finally got a bath... A really **cold** bath. _

Arriving back where she'd landed and dropped her gun, she gulped air and went to go try and find the bottom. Turned out it wasn't far; there may have been seven feet or so of water in this flooded sanctuary, just a little more than a foot and a half over her head. The bottom felt sandy, making her feel like the water had been her for a long time, eating away at the sandstone. After going under a couple of times just to try and figure out what she was dealing with and come back up she finally started taking deep breaths, holding them, and letting them go. It was a trick her big brother had showed her when she was little for holding her breath longer. She wasn't in any sort of big rush, but she'd be searching but sense of touch alone. The longer she could stay under, the more ground she could cover.

With her lungs limbered up, she dove under and kicked her way to the bottom. Once there she spread her arms out wide and verified she was staying deep enough by finding the sandy bottom with her chin. Kicking and crawling along with her hands, she was looking for anything that stuck up enough from the bottom to touch her. There were plenty of rocks and stones done here; crumbled piece of the stairs she'd tried to run on. _Ew,_ what was that? Some rotted piece of wood? Maybe this place really _had_ been a sanctuary or place of worship. Felt like there was slime on it. Yuk. More rocks with sharp broken edges, sand... maybe she'd passed over it or picked the wrong spot to dive- Wait! Her smile let a bubble of air escape from her lips as she grasped a metal object and pulled it up without question. She needed to breathe.

Righting herself and kicking off the bottom, she burst up with the object clenched to her chest.

She realized very quickly that it wasn't her gun. Panting she looked at the item she'd just retrieved from the bottom with a frown; some hunk of metal? Not steel, the color was different, more like copper or-

_Bronze? _

The shine was impossible to mistake. She was holding a section of precursor bronze from... something. Okay, not that strange. Some forgotten precursor temple, there were sure to be a few artifacts floating around... or sunk to the bottom, depending on the material they were made out of. With a few kicks she returned to where she'd left her things, getting her legs on solid ground and examining what she'd picked up. As far as she could tell it was just a sorta flat hunk of metal that didn't appear to be much worse for wear despite having been underwater for who knew how long.

She held it to her chest again; there was a slight curve to it that actually made it a comfortable shape against the front of her body. Was this armor? There were no straps on this thing, but the shape and size seemed about right for someone her size.

Putting it down on the stone holding her things, she decided she'd get back to it as soon as she'd found her gun.

* * *

><p>It had taken several dives to finally find her weapon under the water, finally returning to her little rock and getting her effects back on once she'd gotten it out of the water and twisted it around to make sure it hadn't gotten any into its inner workings... or, if it had, to make sure it had drained out. Ah, what she'd give for a dry towel, but sadly that was not something she could dwell on. Instead she set to putting her still damp clothes back on. As predicted her boots were difficult, which is why she put them on first. After struggling to get clipped back in she yanked her shirt back on and put on the holster for her juice rod, as well as the leg holster for her pistol. Then, before lacing the bigger holster over her shoulders again, she once again looked at the hunk of precursor metal she'd brought up.<p>

Was it armor, or just scrap? She squinted at it, wondering how one identified armor from anything else. She lived in a modern age were body armor came in two flavors; Kevlar and ceramic. Granted, this time and place was pretty damn modern too, just in different ways. And, she reminded herself, she was a wastelander. Who _cared_ what this plate's original intent was? If it would fit on her as a breastplate, who was she to say no to the extra protection? Sure, with the light eco she could survive a stabbing to her guts, but somehow she doubted getting her heart ripped out would be as easy to recover from... and this piece would protect all her vital organs quite nicely. Nodding to herself, she slipped the holster for her larger weapon over her shoulder and then reclined onto her back, sliding the impromptu breastplate into place and clipping the holster over it. She smiled as she tightened it; before it had been a bit big for her. With the armor she'd gained just enough girth for it to fit snugly about her chest, and with a little adjustment her stave was still perfectly accessible. Even better than that was that she could finally holster the big gun as well instead of carrying it in her hand.

She was smiling by the time Jak and Daxter returned to her, having wrung out her scarf and donned the rest of her effects. "Anything interesting?" she asked as they came around.

"Buncha broken and dusty hallways." Daxter pouted at first but then realized something. "Oooh, what did _you_ find?"

She grinned while standing up on the rock, tapping the new piece of metal. It fit her shape quite well, and the straps of the larger holster were holding it pretty well in place. "Some chunk of precursor metal, as far as I can guess. Found it when I was diving for the big guy. Figured I could use a little more padding, so I kept it. Also it gave me a little shape difference, so I was able to get the big holster to fit over my little one. I'm hands free again!"

"Guess it's a good thing you hit the water." Jak pointed out. "So, we ready to try and move on?"

"How?" She asked, looking to the door on the far end of the room. Jak could probably reach it with the JET-board, but she was a tad stuck. "I mean, how are we _both_ gonna get up there?"

"You're gonna go first." Jak explained with a smile, hopping off the JET-board and pulling it out from under himself in one fluid motion, landing on Loor's rock. "It's pretty simple, and I can coach you from here. Once you're up, you and toss the board down to me and I can follow."

"Toss?" She glanced over to where the door was; several yards away. "I don't think my arm is _that_ good."

"Nah, I'll be swimming down below."

"_WHAT?!" _Daxter whined, looking at the water with distaste.

"What?" Jak was looking mischievous again. "I thought you said you were sick of the sand in your fur. Little swim might do you some good, and I know _I _could use a little time in the water. My clothes certainly could."

"_Jak,_ this water is dark, murky, _cold, _and who knows what else is wrong with it!" The ottsel was clearly unimpressed... and spoiled. "Excuse me, but I think I'll hold out for something better."

"Well, you could ride with me." Loor pointed out as Jak pressed the JET-board into her hands. "On the other hand, I've never been on one of these things before, so I might fall off and you'd be stuck with me."

"I'll take _might_ over a _certain_ bath in this place. Anyways, I always ride shot-gun. Balance of the board would be off without me."

"Right." Jak chuckled, taking a moment to explain the basics to Loor. "The board calibrates itself to the weight of the rider to produce just enough force to hover. Keep your balance to go straight, and don't worry about turning right now. Just line up a straight shot, alright? When you jump, the board thinks you're heavier than you are when you land and uses more power. Time it just right, and you can use that as a boost for a second jump and get higher. Should be pretty easy to reach that ledge."

"What if I fuck it up?" She asked. "Bail out?"

"Into the water." He agreed. "Keira waterproofs everything, the board won't care."

"I'll care!" Daxter snapped, hopping over to Loor's shoulder and pouting at her. "So try and do it right the first time!"

"No pressure." Jak tried to assure as Loor made a face; Daxter was making her a little nervous. She didn't like screwing up just in general; it was worse when someone else was riding on her... _literally. _

"Right..." She rolled her eyes, looking to Daxter. "I warned you. If we end up in the water, just remember I didn't make no promises."

"I know, babe." Daxter snickered. "Take it down a notch! Though..." The ottsel trailed off, leaning out from her shoulder to look at her. "Hm... you sure this bit of metal is all you got, sweets? Something's off about you and I'm not quite sure..."

"Off?" She asked, looking at herself. Nothing was that different, aside from the fact that her new breastplate did a better job of holding the squishy bits of her body than her sports bra did. Granted...

"Ah, that's it!" Daxter's gaze had gone the same way. "Ha! Surprised Jak didn't notice first! Jeez, Jak, way to appreciate your girl. Aren't you going to ask her?"

"Huh?" Jak cocked his head a little, confused and looking at Loor with a more critical eye that was wondering what he missed.

"If you don't, I'm going to." Daxter threatened while grinning.

"Ask me _what?_" Loor was a little lost. What did Daxter need to question that had to do with a plate of metal covering her chest?

"Loor, _where did your tits go?!_"

Oh. Apparently the ottsel didn't understand that boobs, squishy as they were, moved to other places when needed. Had he never seen Tess lay on her back before? The two of them had a comparable cup-size, she would probably look just about the same in a metal breastplate tightened properly. "Oh... uh... kinda under my armpits? Same place they go when I sleep... Y'know," She made a slight gesture to where exactly the soft matter on her chest had ended up, "'Bout here... somewhere."

"Helluva vanishing act..." The ottsel snickered. "Scariest trick I've ever seen."

"Ain't a trick, ya perv." She snorted at him, flashing a smile at Jak. It was fine that he didn't notice; they had more important shit to worry about it. He returned it, though the look on his face still said he felt a tad awkward. Daxter had a way of doing that to people. "C'mon, lets do this."

* * *

><p><strong>The Author's Corner <strong>

HOLY HELLO!

Well, this was unexpected. As you guys may have noticed as the cover I use for this story, Loor does indeed have a breastplate, but it's silver in the picture, indicating steel or something of that sort. And yeah, that was the plan back when I drew that bit of art, but y'know how little things tend to change when you're writing... right? XD All of the sudden something beyond my control decides something and OOP there it is.

I'll have to draw a new cover-image later that reflects the change...

ONWARD!

-Loor


	55. Master

I do not own Jak and Daxter.

**Vacation or War-Endgame  
><strong>**Chapter Fifty Five-Master**

It had taken Loor a couple tries to get up onto the ledge, and more than a couple to learn how to mount the JET-board from the water instead of solid ground. Jak was a patient teacher, but Daxter was a more than indignant (and rather sodden) passenger. Both she and the ottsel were soaked by the time she made it up, at which time Daxter dove off of her shoulder to shake himself off and complain about how wet fur only made things more drafty for him. Doing her best not to comment, Loor tossed the JET-board back down to where Jak was treading water. In seconds he mounted the thing and turned away to get a little run-up on the approach. Instead of pulling the same double jump she did, he crouched down and somehow activated some kind of charge function of the board that he hadn't told her about. The blue glow under the board turned bright, the sound of energy surging making her back away from his intended landing zone. A second later the board launched and got much more air than she'd gotten just jumping. Curling into a ball and doing a tight forward-flip, Jak shifted the board to his back while in the air and landed on his feet.

He turned, grinning, to find Loor a tad dumbfounded before she pouted at him. "Showoff. You make it look easy. What did you do?"

"There's a charge switch on the bottom." He said with a shrug. "I didn't wanna make things too complicated for your first time."

She rolled her eyes. As _if_ there was such thing as too complicated for her. Complicated is what she did best. It seemed she was best at screwing up royally simple things. "Right. Onwards?"

"Only if it's dry!" Daxter crowed while getting up to Jak's shoulder after Jak had busied himself shaking some of the water out of his hair. They were all soaked. A dry place would be nice, and Loor actually found herself missing the hot Spargus sun. There was nothing like a warm sunny day after a briskly cold dip; something Minnesota spring had taught her. You didn't get much colder than a freshly thawed lake, and on a calm and bright day sunbathing on a wooden dock could be delightful.

"Here's hoping." She said with a smile at Daxter, the three of them moving quickly. There was another hallway ahead of them, though like the room behind them it wasn't in the best repair. There were cracks in the floors and walls, and the light was sporadic at best. Stepping quickly and carefully, it wasn't long before they hit another room. This one was much smaller, and quite similar to one they'd seen before; a circular chamber with a light eco vent in the middle. The trio traded glances, both Jak and Loor passing through it and bathing in the cool energy before moving on. On the other end of the chamber was another passageway, little more than a short hall, that led to a room they _had_ been in before.

Just at a different end.

The room that Loor considered the Grand Cathedral rose out in front of them; the behemoth space that housed no less than three precursor Oracle statues. Normally Loor would have been peering to either side to see which of the passages she could see beyond the statues was the one they'd been through before, but the Oracle before them took a bit more of her attention. It appeared shifted to one side, as if something had knocked it off-kilter or its foundation had sunken on one side. The idea that the water flowing through this place was also slowly destroying it gained a little more ground as she and Jak approached. They were expecting it this time when the Oracle reacted to their presence by opening its shining eyes.

Loor was actually a little afraid to approach this time. Last time they'd talked to one of these things, she'd been out of it for nearly a day. What if this thing overloaded her, and her brain just decided to quit? It didn't make much sense, but she wanted to hesitate.

Jak wouldn't let her; one of his hands slid around her arm as her step faltered, his gaze locked upon the Oracle as it began to speak.

"_We meet again great warriors, but sadly your coming may be too late." _It said, voice seeming to vibrate throughout the room. Loor found herself at Jak's side, standing on another circular alter before this precursor idol. _"You will soon meet the seed of our downfall. It approaches quickly, and I fear we no longer have the power to resist." _

"Because that's just what we needed to hear..." Loor muttered.

The Oracle wasn't done just yet. _"Beware, as your foes gather allies from those who seemed lost. We offer what little we have in this dire moment..." _

Another warm flush of excitement went through her as she felt it; the cooling energy that was much like the vent she and Jak had just passed over, but there was more to it. This wasn't just gathering energy to carry around. Her flesh and bones were drinking it in, adsorbing it, and adding it to a power that existed in her. Soon the cool feeling took over, and she found her head drifting back to look up as light shined down on both her and Jak again. The room drifted away as her toes left the ground, and a moment of serenity left her thoughtless.

There was nothing now. Nothing but the Oracle's voice. _"Behold, the power of pure light!" _

Loor had closed her eyes, surprised as the chill stayed and she didn't feel her feet touching the ground again. At first she panicked; oh good _Christ,_ this wasn't happening again, was it? She was fixed! Her mind was better, right? A scream built in her lungs, but it didn't get the chance to escape. As she drew in breath through her nose, she was struck with a light scent.

Lavender and sandalwood, with a hint of lemon.

Her eyes flashed open. She was on her back in her mind, blinking. She was on the floor, staring up at the crisscross of blue and white fabric that tried to block out the void above... only the void was gone. Or, better put, the strange room she called her mental home now had a ceiling. Through gaps in the cloth she could see it as it came together; a steeply pitched roof that came to a center point with great glass windows fit into the rosewood sections. Beyond it was still dark, but stars shined in that darkness.

_**She's growing. **_Lyra noted, her head appearing before she came down from the loft, slinking over to be by Loor. **_She's out there. You're in here... _**

_How does she know where to go...? _Loor asked; as always she found herself desperately drowsy. It was just like when her body changed and Lyra took over; her own personal psyche wanted to shut down until the intrusion was over. _We were exploring... _

_**No doubt her masters want you and your man to go somewhere specific. **_Lyra let off a faint growl; the idea that their body was being controlled didn't please either of them. **_Something from the outside was talking to her just before you swapped. _**

_Damn precursor junk... _

_**Do you want to stay awake? **_Lyra's beastly voice actually sounded like it could have had a hint of kindness... the tone sounded uncomfortable and alien to her. **_I could help you. _**

_You don't have to be nice just because I protected you from her... _Loor snickered, rolling over. _No... I'll sleep. _

* * *

><p>Waking up, Loor found herself sitting on the floor of some kind of elevator. Everyone around her was precursor bronze; the floor, the shaft moving by, the bolts holding it all together... everything was shiny and left her confused and disoriented. She was still damp and cold, but less so than she'd been when she'd gone under. How long had she been out? The idea of time didn't stick with her for long, looking about and finding Jak coming to next to her. He was still standing, pressing a hand to his forehead as he had a moment of unsteadiness. He seemed just as lost as her after that, looking around and frowning.<p>

Daxter, ever-present on Jak's shoulder, was the only one who had anything to say. "Finally! I was startin' to worry if I'd ever get you guys back!"

"What happened?" Jak asked, looking up and seeing the seemingly endless shaft of bronze that extended beyond them. "Where are we?"

"You two changed, but not like the usual way!" Daxter explained. "You both got all like... white and blue and glowing and they took this other path from that main room on these platforms that looked like they were spinning, but they _did _something and it was like... everything slowed down. They were able to use the platforms and we've been through like half the temple! It's been hours, at least. There were a couple light eco vents along the way; they kept powering back up, and it was like they knew exactly where they were going!"

"Score one for Lyra..." Loor muttered, pushing herself up to be standing again. She was glad she'd gotten her holsters figured out; somehow she couldn't imagine Sariea carrying her gun for her. "But what's with the elevator?"

"We've been in here for a while, it just keeps going down." Daxter shrugged. "My ears keep popping!"

Loor swallowed, having not even noticed the pressure on her eardrums while trying to sort out everything else. "Damnit! It's like being set up by God himself... Doesn't matter what _we_ wanna do, we might as well just ride by the seats of our pants..."

"Hey guys..." Jak's face and eyes had grown hard. He was thinking, but it was also clear he didn't like getting shoved around by the Precursors like an child being drug around by the ear. "Veger was trying to get into the Catacombs, right? Seem said she couldn't open them for him, but we just opened up a door with my seal... What if that's where we're headed? What if that's where we are now? The way this stuff looks; the temple made me think of it before, but the deeper we get the more I realize... When the palace got attacked, there was something _under _it. I only saw it for a second, but the stuff around here keeps reminding me of it."

"So you're guessing we're in a section of the Catacombs, and Haven is home to another section?" Loor asked. "Doesn't sound too off... Mar founded the damn city, and he's got plenty mixed up with the ancient faith roots of this place." She looked up again, frowning and swallowing again. It seemed as if they had descended an impossible distance... "But what is Veger after? When he was talking to Seem... sounded like he was promising to save the world."

"He musta forgotten that was our job!" Daxter snickered.

Neither of the teens responded as Dax tried to lighten the mood; the elevator was coming to a stop. Another door, same as the one Jak's seal had opened before, ended up on the same level with them as the platform halted. The portal opened, and they stepped out into another cavernous space made of precursor metal. It was pretty empty, brightly lit, with only one thing of note sitting right in the middle; some kind of futuristic vehicle sitting on the floor and aimed towards a large circular opening in the far wall.

"It looks just like what I saw in Haven...!" Jak muttered, sounding surprised and mystified, turning his head to the open tunnel. "But where do they go?"

"Screw that, how did _he _get here?" Loor asked through gritted teeth, having noticed that a creature was currently perched on the vehicle in the room. "Didn't we go through a locked door to get down here?"

"Well, you guys did go through a ruined section while you were... um..." Daxter struggled on how to put it as the trio approached their mystery guest. "_Out._ The ceiling was caved in. Guy has wings, suppose he coulda flown in."

"Which assumes he knew we were coming... when _we _didn't even know we were coming." Loor found herself growing more and more irritated.

Currently sitting upon the vehicle in the middle of the room was Pecker. The colorful creature had perked up the moment they appeared. "There you are!" He said, adding to the feeling Loor had that they were expected in this place. "I am so squawking happy I found you three!"

"Found us?!" Loor snapped, having enough of feeling like she was being led by her nose. "_Right. _What are you doing down here Pecker? I'm pretty sure wandering precursor temple ruins isn't on the list of duties you get while you're signed on with Damas."

"As if you would know." The monkaw shot back haughtily. "Then again, Damas was only ze boss for as long as he had to be. _Onin_ says we must get back to Haven city."

"Eh?" Her head was spinning. How did the bird brain get in contact with his old mistress? "Just what the hell is-"

Pecker didn't let her finish the question, turning his direct attention to Jak and Daxter. "Onin says the catacombs are the key to the planet's very survival!"

"Even if we wanted to go back," Jak's face had hardened. "How exactly would you suggest we get there? We already sent Ashelin on her way."

"This wing of the temple was sealed off from the ground, no?" Pecker asked.

Jak blinked, his hand going for his pouch but Daxter getting there first, producing the seal and passing it to his friend's hands. Jak looked at the little object, then held it out towards the vehicle Pecker was sitting on. The vehicle responded with a hum of intense energy, lifting off the ground to hover.

There was a moment of hesitation. None of them really wanted to go back to Haven...

But this looked too fun to pass up.

"You guys up for a little ride?" Jak asked, wearing a daredevil smile on his face.

"I'm gonna be glad I haven't had much to eat today..." Loor muttered. "Aren't I?"

* * *

><p>"<em>They're heading back to the city already? That didn't take long..."<em>

When looking at him, the last thing she wanted to consider him as was 'Master.' She was an intelligent being. An animal, yes, but her mind had taken over her physical body and been given time to grow. The experiments preformed on her, though torture, were the very reason she was still alive. She'd been supplied with eco long enough to learn it was precious to her and the level needed to be maintained, and aware of herself long enough to start thinking further into the future than ten seconds.

Perhaps the most precious thing she learned though, considering her current situation, was how to speak. It wasn't easy, talking around a jaw that had shifted to give space to deadly fangs in both the upper and lower rows. When it had all started she'd been communicating with growls and roars, but there was a long memory left in her head of language and speech. The first time she'd spoken in captivity it had scared the shit out of those poking and prodding at her. She'd like that.

"What now?" She asked, squatting in the cave she'd called home since she'd been set free into the wasteland. She spoke to a communications device that displayed the holographic head of her Master, as much as she disliked the term. It was much like the first one she'd found after she watched Jak and Loor take out that metal head caravan. They'd gotten the eco crystal, but she'd still investigated the leftovers when the light had become less harsh. The crushed communicator had been all that was left, and she had decided to take the damaged bauble simply not to go back to her hunting grounds empty handed. What she hadn't realized at the time was that despite being broken the device still acted as a perfectly good tracking device.

Her Master had assumed it had been one of the metal heads who'd been dumb enough to keep the device, having lost the cargo and trying to hide. He'd sent another group of creatures to investigate. She had the pleasure of killing them, and liberating another communicator that wasn't so broken.

"_Patience, my pet." _He responded with a smile on his mangled face. There wasn't much left to actually be called a face. _"The city is my problem. You keep searching for crystals." _

"My rewards!" She snapped, some of her natural snarl coming back into her voice. It was difficult to deny the fact that she was an animal that simply pretended to be a woman when it was convenient for her. Acting human tired her out. Even with the crystal she had pillaged right before attacking Loor, she found herself aching for a good hunt. "I have a crystal. Keeping it safe for you. Now for what you promised!"

One might have expected him to be less than impressed with how she was shouting and demanding, but he chuckled in a way that seemed quite pleased with her behavior. _"Of course, it will not be long before my friends come to see you. Don't kill them this time, and they will give you what you want." _

She grinned, leaning forward and letting out a noise that was not unlike a cat purring... though much louder. "More power."

"_How I love an eager test subject..." _He laughed, a tinny tone produced by the fact that his face and body were mostly mechanical. _"I will admit, my expectations for you were low back when I first saw you, but I do think you've become the most valuable monster I've ever made... and that's saying something. At least you're the first one to know what really matters. If only I had realized earlier; complete removal of the human element allows the dark creature inside to flourish! Play nicely with my friends, pet... and we'll put your new abilities to good use." _

She saved her growl until his face vanished. She didn't like being a 'pet.' She didn't like having a 'Master.' Still, what he'd promised was too good to pass up, and the crystal she had now guaranteed her survival for as long as its power held out.

All she had to do was wait. He would give her everything she'd need to kill him. She'd be good, pretend to be his loyal pet, and stab him in the back the second she got the chance. She didn't care about what he was doing, she didn't even _know_ what he was doing. All she knew what that he was trying to control her.

Just for that, she had to kill him.

Eventually.

"Errol..." The name struggled between her lips, twisted by her lack of practice. This was the name of her Master. This was the man who had made her in the first place. This was the man, now no longer a man, who had found her in the desert and offered her everything she ever wanted in her new existence after the death of whoever she'd been before.

This was the name of her chosen prey.

A smile spread, lips stretched over the horrific fangs in her maw.

"You will die."

* * *

><p><strong>The Author's Corner<strong>

Holy jeez that took a while! Sorry about that!

So here's what's happening that's got Loor all fucked in the brain right now; her hubby got deployed. I'm actually doing okay, emotionally speaking, but let's just say I spent the first week or so in front of the game systems sorta wasting time instead of doing anything productive. BUT I'm back now so ON WITH THE SHOW.

Book.

Thing.

MEOW.

Happy reading,

-Loor

**(BTW, Uploading this right before bed. If that issue where the chapter ends up bolded happens again, rest assured I will do my best to fix it as soon as I wake up.)**


	56. Twisted Assistant

**Vacation or War-Endgame**  
><strong>Chapter Fifty Six-Twisted Assistant<strong>

"Hey... guys... I have a question."

"Wassup Loor?"

"Do you make an _effort_ to destroy everything in your path, or does it just come naturally to you?"

Daxter grinned from Jak's shoulder; the vehicle they'd found had taken them through a long and twisting tunnel and an incredible speed. The tunnel itself had been in poor repair and full of holes, as well as some automated defenses, that had made their passage difficult at best and extremely stressful at the worst... but if the grin on Jak's face told her anything, it was that he'd had fun the whole way. The distance traveled was anyone's guess, as well as how deep underground they still were. At the end of the ride there hadn't been any way to slow down, and they'd arrived in another square room of precursor bronze identical to the one where they'd first found the odd little craft. With almost zero warning everyone on board had to bail out and duck away from the fiery explosion that resulted from it crashing against the wall.

And, as mentioned, Jak was still looking rather pleased with himself. Daxter too.

"Breakin' stuff's fun, right?" Daxter snickered at her. "You ain't hurt, are ya?"

"I'm not, amazingly." Her tone was dry.

"You can drive next time." Jak teased, well aware that a great deal of her ire currently came from the fact that she hadn't been in control of the situation. "It's only slightly harder than it looks."

She felt a pout coming on, but Pecker had finally put himself back together and started flapping to get himself off of the floor. Not even saying a word to the others he picked up enough height to glide to the far side of the room to where a circular doorway marked the entrance to another elevator. The birdbrain obviously wasn't waiting up for them, ascending through the shaft without a backwards glance. Jak, Daxter, and Loor all shared a glance before following after.

"What do you think we're gonna find up there?" Loor asked absently. "I mean... we were moving fast, but do you really think we could have gotten under Haven? Flying out had taken nearly a day..."

"Air trains ain't the fastest things in the world." Daxter answered as they boarded the elevator and the shining platform began moving up. "Nor the cushiest, even when you're not being a stowaway!"

Loor nodded a little. She couldn't help thinking back to when she and Jak had been banished from the city. Everything had been in a bad way... Metal heads in agriculture, tainting the soil and destroying crops, overflowing into the Bazaar. KG robots breaking through the wall and forcing their way into the industrial section, likely to convert factories to their own cause and to siphon off supplies from the city's stockpile. The city would be effectively blockaded into to two halves, leading to a 'divide and conquer' situation. No doubt both factions had new leaders, and a happy coincidence had led them to attack the city at the same time.

Least, she hoped it was coincidence.

"How much of the city do you think is left...?" She muttered, more thoughts than she wanted bouncing around in her head. The war was a mess, of course, but if they were really returning to the city her first priority would be to locate Morgan and reassure herself that the woman was okay. Ryan had said she was sick... worse than she'd been before.

"Let's worry about _getting_ topside before we start fussing about what's up there." Daxter advised. "C'mon, Loor, now ain't the time to be getting lost in your head."

"Keeps getting easier, with how crowded it is." She huffed, feeling the urge to stuff her hands into pockets she didn't have. Without the option, she hooked her thumbs on her belt and waited for the elevator to hit the top of the shaft... something that didn't take nearly as long as the elevator ride back at the temple. Getting off, they arrived into a rocky chasm that boasted no natural light. It was a giant and rough cavern, lined with scaffolding and yellow work lights. The place may have been twenty or thirty yards across, but snaked well out of sight lengthwise with a set of tracks flowing down the middle, supported by metal girders that extended from whatever wall was closer.

"Looks like some kind of old eco mine." Jak said as they stepped out from the elevator and onto a rocky ledge that stood between two pieces of scaffolding, a rough fence standing between them and a deep abyss below, on which Pecker was currently perched. "When Mar built Haven City, he must have carved out these old caves to get at the eco power."

Daxter rolled his eyes at the history lesson. "Sheesh! That Mar guy must've never slept much!"

"I'm going ahead to tell Onin we're back." Pecker informed them. "Watch your tail feathers! This is a spooky place." With that he lifted his wings and took off again, flapping for an exit that must have been further up in the inky black that prevented them from seeing any sort of ceiling.

"Spooky." Loor got the feeling the look on her face, nor her tone of voice, could not get any more incredulous. "Because after all the shit we've been through, 'Spooky' is something we should worry about."

"Nah." Daxter said as Jak started walking; Pecker clearly had an easy exit but they'd have to find their own way to the surface. "But considering how quickly Bent Beak flew out on us? You can bet there's something down here a _lot_ worse than 'spooky'... not that we can't handle it, right?"

"_Right." _

* * *

><p>"Are you <em>sure<em> they'll be able to get through there?" Veger asked haughtily. "This is really the last place I want to be wasting my time in."

"The monks told you they were coming this way, didn't they?" She responded, looking out dully across a room that may have once been a cargo bay before the elevator to the surface. The floor had crumbled some time ago, though, and now there was nothing left but old train tracks and some tools of the trade stacked up where no one in their right mind would try to reach them. "They'll be here. Patience; you'll be able to show them the powers you command."

"These mines were sealed off years ago. The door has no power; how in the world are two freaks and a rat going to get through?" He eyed the woman who had guided him down here after his monks in Spargus had warned him those tainted creatures had found the sub-rails. She wasn't anything special. If anything, she seemed overwhelmingly plain. Average height, brown hair showing the gray signs of age, average build, tan skin, and brown eyes. She was the type that could blend in to any crowd... and yet she'd come specifically to him, offering him her services as an 'assistant.'

Services that apparently included seeing the future.

At first he'd written her off, disgusted by the one thing that _did_ set her apart from the crowd; one of her arms was eco-contaminated. Most of it was wrapped and covered by her clothes, but lumps of mutated flesh were still noticeable, and the black nails of her dead fingertips were a sight that made him shudder. He'd been ready to throw her out onto the street, when she spoke up and shared the fact that she knew exactly what he'd been up to in the past months. His political moves against Ashelin, the fact that he attacked the palace to try and get at the catacombs, and his interaction with the monks in Spargus. She also predicted his eventual arrival in front of the precursors themselves, and prophesied that he would stand in the glorious presence of his makers. She promised that he _would_ be blessed with the gift of evolution; the honor of becoming one of the race that created the world and all that was good within it... and she would help lead him to that future. All she asked in return was for him to eventually cure the contamination of her arm, and allow her to be at his side whenever possible.

He still reserved his doubts; a woman this far along with contamination could just be sick in the head and have a lot of lucky guesses. Still, she was yet to be wrong. For now, he would play her game. If something turned up sour, he'd simply shoot her and move on.

"There's a cart of explosives deeper in the mine. They'll find it and use it to blow the bulkhead." She spoke with certainty, not looking up at Veger and instead staring intently at the door at the other end of the room. "And you will be here to block their path."

"And will this happen, by any chance, _today, _Morgan? My patience is growing thin."

"Soon." She assured, finally turning and looking up at him. "I wouldn't lead you wrong, sir. Why... you could say the world depends on my honest guidance of you. If I hadn't told you exactly where the sub-rails came out, you wouldn't be down there to stop those _things_ form entering the city, would you? You'd simply be aware that they were coming."

"That is yet to be seen." He responded. "You promised me their arrival hours ago, and there has been no sign. I restored power to this elevator for nothing!"

Both of their heads whipped to look back into the room beyond the doorway they both stood in, the sound and vibration of a massive explosion echoing from somewhere beyond. "Nothing?" Morgan asked with a small smile. "I really must disagree."

Veger shot her a look as her tone grew momentarily smug and entertained, but shook his head to dismiss it. In moments the tainted things he'd thrown out of the city would arrive, and he would stop them. Though any gratitude would shrivel long before it passed his lips, he had Morgan to thank for the opportunity. If she found some sort of strange entertainment in watching events she foretold coming true, he supposed that was her right.

It wasn't long before the door on the far end of the room opened, revealing exactly what Morgan had told him; Jak, Loor, and that rat, on their way back to the city through this underground labyrinth. And here he was, waiting for them, feeling a smug smile coming onto his own face as he stepped out from the doorway.

The tainted trio looked shocked to see him, and Loor was the first to question it. "What the- What are _you_ doing down here?" She demanded.

Veger preened; the element of surprise was his. Why not tell these doomed creatures exactly what they wanted to know? "The monks told me you were coming through the precursor sub-rails. Interesting, aren't they?" He actually envied the fact that they got to travel along such a wonderful example of the precursor's genius, but kept that to himself. "The precursors used them to build the world countless eons ago. The rail system leads deep into the planet where it's said the ancient ones wait to bestow unimaginable powers upon the worthy."

Loor shook her head, a look of rage taking on her face. "Not you, _her! _Morgan!"

Veger turned slightly as his assistant seemed to be taking the spotlight. She'd been standing behind him, but came forward when addressed. "Hello again, Loor." She greeted casually. "It's nice to see you again... though I suppose I should feel bad that I'm seeing you _here." _

"You suppose?" The raven-haired girl demanded, drawing a pistol that was attached to her leg. "You shouldn't be involved with any of the natives! You know better! What happened to your mission!? Ryan's out there, doing everything he can to keep tabs, and you're here... _ruining_ everything!"

Veger was quickly putting a picture together; these two knew each other... and had once been on the same side, it seemed. With a grin, he put a hand on Morgan's back and called Loor's gaze with his own. "Morgan is my _assistant, _little Loor. She's the one who told me exactly when and where to find you three, so I could stop you from entering the city."

"She knows?" The rat demanded from Jak's shoulder.

"That I do." Morgan confirmed. "I have seen the future, an in it Veger _will _see the makers. I will guide him to their blessing."

"I will save the world with that power, just as Mar did!" Veger proclaimed, elated with the despair that appeared on Loor's face. She still held her pistol, as if she meant to shoot Morgan, but her wrist slumped as she seemed at a loss for what to do.

Jak, who shared Loor's expression, though with a touch more anger, spoke up. "Yeah, you've done a _great_ job so far, letting the metal heads destroy the palace."

"Oh, you couldn't be more mistaken, dear boy." Veger cooed for his ignorance, his tone turning vicious as he meant to make a point. "We're on a time clock, children! That light in the sky, do you know what it is?! Our nightmare has found us and the end _is_ coming! I needed quick access to the catacombs below, so I attacked the palace myself! … It will be our... _little secret." _

"Well, you're full of surprises." Jak's brows had risen, his own hands beginning to move for his weapons. Expected, from animals.

"And you're full of dark eco!" He snapped back. "You two and your rat are an abomination! But I will rid the planet of this scourge soon enough... Pure light will rule the universe, and I will be the bright light that shines to every corner of the world, and destroys all shadows!" He gestured, both with his free hand and the precursor bronze staff he carried, lifting his hands high to indicate his grand intentions. These poor creatures should have rejoiced for his dream, but he knew they were too far gone to see the beauty of it all.

"Pure my ass!" Loor snapped. "You think your cause justifies the torture of sentient life?! We _saw_ what you did to that creature in the temple! I don't care how far gone something is, what you did was just straight _wrong!_"

"I was searching for a simple end to your kind." Veger said with a shrug, as if it were no matter. "A poison that would react with the darkness to kill quickly without harming those without the taint; you should be thankful that our test subject escaped before we came up with any real results, else I would have been able to simply alter the water here and Haven instead of banishing you two."

"Ah, excuse me Count Vulgar!"

The rat had raised his voice, as well as his hand, to break into the conversation.

"It's _Veger!" _

"Yeah, whatever." The creature hopped down in front of his friends. "Isn't it kinda nice to just curl up in the shade sometimes? Just chillin' it... watching the hot babes prancing around in their skimpy little bikinis. Ya'know, just how they... _jiggle. _I get that special feeling in my... _tail." _

"Dax!" Loor gave the ottsel a look. "You're the one being vulgar..."

"Enough!" Veger roared at them; he should have ended his conversation a while ago. "We will start the cleansing of the world with your demise! Behold! I now command the very power of the ancient ones!"

Now was the time. With a flourish he raised his staff, the top glinting red with a sudden surge of power. This was something _else_ Morgan had told him about; the presence of something he could use against these creatures. Turning his back on his enemies, he raised his rod to the rocky wall above the door. There was a moment of hesitation, and then a shattering rumble as the wall broke apart with dangerous force. Beneath the gray stone, precursor metal gleamed. The upper half of a precursor robot had come unearthed, and it would finish freeing itself in a matter of moments to take care of these _things_ and stand guard for anything else that might try and come out of the wasteland. With the device awakened, Veger tucked his staff under his arm and moved for the door, Morgan walking ahead of him.

Standing in the doorway, he looked back with a sick smile. "And this time..." He said, remembering his parting words when they had been banished. "The precursors will not have mercy on you."

* * *

><p>"How in <em>hell<em> did he get control of a precursor robot?!"

Loor wasn't sure how she'd ended up with Daxter on her shoulder, but she and Jak had split up the moment the thing had finished freeing itself. Daxter must have leapt for the closest person, and ended up with her. Not that she particularly minded, aside from the fact that the ottsel was screaming in her ear as she swapped out her pistol and went for the big gun. "Fuck if I know!" She snapped, looking across the room where Jak had the blaster out, but it didn't seem to be doing anything aside from pissing the thing off. "You guys fought one of these things before; any bright ideas?! This one's a pipsqueak compared to that!"

"It had weaknesses because Gol and Maia altered it!" Jak shouted while diving out of the way as the machine reacted to his attacks by firing back with a high-powered laser that heated the rock he'd just been standing on to the point of being white-hot. "These old robots are supposed to be indestructible!"

"We'll see about that..." She muttered, getting the heavy weapon off of her back and onto her shoulder, doing her best to make her moments short and not attract the attention of this ancient automaton. Her core muscles shook, but her hands were sure and quick as she set up with one foot up, the other knee on the ground. She remembered how hard this gun had kicked her last time; she'd been crouched, ready for it, and it had _still_knocked her on her ass. That hadn't been so bad in the desert; she'd had a nice cushion. Here, there was nothing but hard rock. Remembering the force with which she'd been knocked back last time, she leaned her weight forward in preparation as her fingers slid away the safeties protecting the triggers.

The thing was pretty preoccupied with Jak; even if the blaster didn't seem to be doing anything, Jak had noticed what she'd been up to and kept firing for the worth of a distraction. Besides lasers it also seemed to have a long energy weapon that Loor promised herself she wouldn't call a light saber... but it totally was. Thankfully, after years of adventuring, Jak was both nimble and good at anticipation. Now she just had to hope the effort was worth it; the gun on her shoulder was beginning to charge up and vibrate with power. Daxter, on her other shoulder, actually leapt down when he noticed what she was doing. He didn't want to be attached if she got knocked down by it again.

That was a great vote of confidence.

Lining up the shot was pretty easy; the robot was huge and Loor had a pretty general strike-zone; she'd aim for the body and hope her shot didn't go too far off course. As Jak had told her; when in doubt, aim for the biggest target. She wasn't exactly in doubt... she just got the feeling that if she missed and they somehow survived, she'd never hear the end of it for missing with a _cannon _at point-blank range.

Already feeling pity for her poor shoulder, she released the triggers.

The shot flew off just like last time; a ball of blue sparks with a burning yellow core. The robot must have noticed the light, because it paused in its assault to look. A look was all it had time for, getting slammed by the shot a split second later and forced into the far wall with a deafening boom, as well as a squeal of metal on stone.

Loor had managed to stay upright this time, though her collar protested the inhumane treatment. She really needed some sort of padding on the stock of this thing to help absorb the shock. Pushing the heavy weapon off of her shoulder, she watched as blue sparks carried through the precursor metal, arcing across the surface and then sinking in. A few heartbeats after impact, the yellow core of the shot detonated, shaking the cavern and filling much of the view with smoke and dust. With the gun on the ground, Loor put her hands down as well and ducked her head, waiting for the shaking to stop.

Out of the smog, she heard a strange noise. Something like a mechanical monster choking to death, or maybe just grunting. Either way, it got her to lift her head.

Within the cloud of dust and smoke, she could see a red glow. There was no time to think. One leg kicked out to shove her weapon out of the way, the other under her and throwing her to the side as she snatched Daxter from where he'd been cowering behind her. A half second later one of the energy weapons slammed down where she'd been, shaking the ground as she rolled away and attempted to pop back up on her feet.

The robot was still in one piece. The only thing that was different now... was it was _pissed._

* * *

><p><strong>The Author's Corner<strong>

There is literally no excuse for how long I've left you guys hanging. I can blame depression, I can blame loneliness I can blame a lot of things... but it really came down to I got a little stuck, and then instead of getting unstuck I spent my last month and some watching Star Trek and Soul Eater. Let's get this show back on the road.

-Loor


	57. Broken City

**Vacation or War-Endgame**  
><strong>Chapter Fifty Seven-Broken City<strong>

"Move!" Jak commanded, shoving Loor forward before she'd even gotten steady, Daxter scrambling back up to her shoulder and hanging on for his life. He jumped back at the same time, avoiding another strike from the enraged robot's energy weapon. The force of the attack caused the rocky platform to crack and buckle, creating precarious footing as Loor did her best not to fall over while fear gave her a healthy kick in the ass.

"Did I even hurt it?!" She shouted out, looking up at the smoke was slowly clearing. Her look couldn't last more than a second though; there simply wasn't time to do an examination of the mechanical monster that wanted to beat them into flash-fried mush.

"You made it mad!" Daxter responded as her eyes went down to hop over a small chasm that had opened in the floor. The footing was going from bad to impossible. "Does that count?!"

"Only if you see something we can use!" Loor responded, sighting her weapon at the edge of the stone platform she and Jak were trapped on. With only another glance to make sure she wasn't about to be attacked again, she went for it. Better to at least have it in arms than to leave it to get destroyed or to be a tripping hazard. "Any bright ideas, Dax?!"

"Gimme a sec!" The ottsel complained as the girl dove and rolled for her big gun, collecting into her arms and having to throw herself in the other direction as the robot directed one of its superheated lasers at her. She swore it had been a close enough miss that she'd lost hair on it, but now was not the time to check. "Oh man, _both of you, HIT THE GROUND!" _

Loor didn't question, already half-way there as her balance was lost on the loose pieces of stone that had been broken from the floor and turning her body to land on her back. Not a second too soon; if she'd been any later she probably would have lost part of her face to one of the energy weapons that she totally wasn't going to remember as light sabers. It swept over her at an incredible speed, the red light searing her eyes and the heat flaring by her face. Her gut told her to get up, on her feet faster than she thought possible and trying to find Jak in all the confusion. Where was he?

"Lead it off!" Came a shout from a direction opposite of the way she'd been looking. "I think I've got something!"

"Got it!" She yelped back, hefting the big gun back onto her shoulder. Not because she intended to use it, but because she wanted to keep it ready... and there wasn't time to put it away. It sat on her shoulder pretty well, so long as she kept one hand firm on the fold-out handles. With Daxter clinging to the other shoulder, she actually felt fairly balanced as she had to move again to avoid another vicious laser attack, yanking her pistol out from the holster on her leg and squinting through the smog to aim for the face. Her pea shooter would do nothing... besides distract it. The re-focusing was instant; that strange mechanical grunting noise came again as the thing forgot about wherever Jak had been running to and turned its full attention to her, swinging and blasting so fast that she didn't have time to shoot between volleys. She just had to hope that it would stay focused on her as long as she kept moving, ducking and jumping and feeling like a fly on the run from an irate housewife with a swatter.

For once, Daxter proved quite useful, looking wherever she wasn't and warning her about incoming.

She was beginning to worry how long she'd hold out when she heard a somewhat familiar clatter of bullets that sped up given time. The sharp _pang-pang-pang _that got faster as an additional whirring noise grew louder. Her memory didn't have time to place it, but she was sure she'd heard it before. Somewhere. Then, shortly after, the sound of something splintering and breaking apart. Finally, after the creaking shatter of a heavy wooden boards breaking apart, a loud thud of metal ringing on metal... and a mechanical roar as the precursor robot was suddenly forced down into the chasm it had been floating in since it had released itself. Loor had looked, catching a glimpse of something falling from above and striking it on the head.

Jak ran up to the edge, the morph gun in the form of the blaster and firing several times into the blackness below. An earth-shaking explosion answered him after three slugs, nearly one again rocking Loor off of her already unsteady feet. Given a second to breathe, her eyes went up to try and figure out what happened... and saw it pretty quickly. This cavern had once been some sort of storage area, it seemed, and there were several crevices up above that had been blocked off with wooden sawhorses beaten into place. Some were just blocked tunnels, but others held back carts that looked familiar; smaller versions of the explosives car they had set off to get past the massive metal door that had been standing in their way in the main mine.

"Charge up!" Jak demanded, backing off from the edge and twisting the morph gun again. "It's coming back!" This time she could see the mod; the Vulcan fury; when had he picked that up? She'd ask later, instead taking a knee and stuffing her pistol away to put both hands on her big gun. Once again getting the safeties out of the way, she found herself automatically cringing as the energy vibrated through the stock again. Soon as she got a chance, she was installing an extra layer of leather to the bottom of the stock. This thing _needed_ padding, or it was gonna break her collar.

The precursor robot blasted back up into the main cavern, cloaked in smoke and looking like a demon out of hell. It sounded like one too, the noises it was making more menacing and feeling like nails on a chalk board. "Jak?" Loor called; it seemed he had a plan, so she was waiting for his command to fire.

"When the cart comes down!" He answered, already aiming up to break another blockade, firing before he'd drawn the bead to get the Vulcan fury's barrel up to full speed. There wasn't much of a window; the robot has multiple ports to fire lasers from coming forth out of its back, and both hands were occupied with its glowing energy weapons. It intended to destroy them with sheer firepower, and from the looks of it that was a very real possibility.

"Jak?!" This time Daxter shouted, beginning to get unnerved as the automaton wound up to knock them all to kingdom come, the lasers charging up with a white-hot glow from the ports that would fire them. Jak didn't respond, bullets slamming into the block he was aiming for and the wood already splintering as the cart began to come loose.

It looked up, apparently able to hear the sound and looking as if it meant to dodge out of the way.

"_Loor!" _

Loor didn't bother trying to hold up against the force this time, instead allowing her shoulder to roll back and for the gun to fall right off the perch as she fired it. It softened the blow, and it was nearly impossible to miss such a big target. The shot flew true, arresting the precursor robot on the spot and keeping it in the path of the explosive cart, the arcing energy seeming to effect its motion systems. A moment later it vanished from view, the heavy metal cart and its explosive cargo taking it back into the crevice down below.

A flash of light, followed by a shock wave that might had hurt more than the first firing, indicated the detonation of the shot from Loor's gun, and in turn the explosives in the cart. The girl didn't care about pride at this point; she went to her knees and put her head to the floor, arms clutching her ears to protect them from the auditory battering. That was literally _everything_ they had; if that didn't finish it, she really didn't have the energy to try and run away anymore.

Her arms slowly loosened form her head when Daxter tugged at the scarf around her neck. "Sweets... hey, Loor, c'mon, it's cool!"

She was slow to un-tuck from the ball she'd turned into on the floor, looking up and seeing black smoke slowly floating up from below. Daxter jumped off of her shoulder, taking a second on her head before kicking off and running back to Jak to scale up to his shoulder. Jak, still looking warily over the edge, shot her a small smile as she finally sat up proper and picked up her heavy weapon again. Holding it helped her hide the fact that she was shaking, though she wasn't sure why it mattered to her anymore. Both of the guys had just seen her cowering... though neither of them seemed to blame her for it. They just waved for her to come join them at the edge.

On her feet and putting the heavy-hitter back in its holster, she actually had to blink and laugh when she got there. The guys had been looking down, she assumed to look out for a possible return of their enemy. That hadn't been the case though. Instead, she found, they had been appreciating the remains of their mechanical foe.

The explosions had been forceful enough to put the robot to pieces, a large hunk of its main body having been blown back up and getting stuck in the crevice... giving them a little bridge to cross the chasm and get to the door Veger had left through.

"Lucky." She giggled, putting her trembling hands on her hips while wondering just how stable the bridge was. Not that they had much of a choice; they had to keep moving forward. If this didn't work, they just had to find another way. "If Veger was here... then here's betting we're not very far under Haven."

"Oh yeah!" Daxter let off a shout, probably still riding the adrenaline. "The boys are back in town!"

Loor looked back, finally matching their smiles as Jak bent down and picked up a piece of debris that had been blow up onto the ledge during the last explosion. She didn't get why, but after a quick glance he compared it to his morph gun and nodded with the decision to hold onto it. "Let's go topside and see what kinda trouble we can get into."

* * *

><p>As Loor had expected, the elevator hadn't been far beyond the room in which they'd done battle. It was a large cargo-lift, brightly lit by artificial light she was still getting used to after all their time in the wasteland. Of course, her brain was bent out of shape over more than just lights.<p>

No. Her mind was quite occupied with what they'd just seen and heard. Veger had a twisted vision for the world involving all this precursor junk, and was acting like nothing less than a psychopath. Worse, it seemed the monks in Spargus had believed him enough to give him control of some of the ancient machines. He was like a scientist who'd lost his mind and veered of into being a religious zealot. Even worse than _that, _Morgan had been with him... guiding him. Feeding him information on the future.

"So that was Morgan." Jak said as the elevator got moving, his mind seeming to have gone to similar places. "Ryan's sister."

"She looked a _lot_ older than his sister." Daxter commented. "More like his mom."

"They're only half-siblings." Loor remembered, feeling like the words left her in a monotone haze. "Same dad, different moms... but what she's doing..."

"You said something about her mission?" Daxter asked, cocking his head a little. "What's up with that?"

"She and Ryan..." She shook her head, looking to the guys. This was entering a dangerous zone; more likely than not Jak had put together quite a bit of it himself, but a familiar situation was beginning to form. She could use what they already knew to explain why she couldn't completely explain. "They're doing something here that will be important for my time... but they should only be observing; staying in the background and keeping their noses out of the events, as well as the business of natives. It was the same dance I had to do before we were banished and I knew everything that was going to happen; Morgan has all the information..." She gritted her teeth, feeling like ripping her hair out. "And she's _feeding_ it to Veger. What in _hell_ is she playing at?"

"She was sick." Jak pointed out. "Eco contamination... that's what was going on with her arm, wasn't it?"

"Yeah." Loor confirmed. "But she's resistant."

"She was still pretty far gone..." Daxter shuddered. "Almost her whole arm was dead; without any help from someone who knows a thing or two about healing she'll be feverish, forgetful, weak, sometimes outright delusional. Not to mention the pain is something terrible."

"You... see a lot of that?" Loor asked, surprised of how much Daxter understood about contamination. All Loor had noticed was the dead tissue, and Keira had mentioned it was a super-effective cancer agent since it triggered cell mutation when it wasn't causing cell death.

"Back in Sandover." Jak nodded a little. "Samos was the green sage; if someone had an accident and ended up contaminated, they came to him for help. Early enough, he could remove it. Lot of cases though..." Both boys shook their heads, sharing tight frowns. "Morgan is what we'd definitely call way too far gone. Even if she asked someone like Samos for help, all he could do is ease some of the pain and slow it down."

"I know she survives." Loor sighed, looking up as the elevator approached the top of the shaft. "It's why I didn't shoot her... whatever is going on, her life is just as important as any native's life. I know she needs to live to get back to my era. That is unless something has changed..." She shook her head, groaning. "If that's the case... Ryan ain't gonna be happy with me."

"What are you talking about, sweets?" Daxter asked as the lift hit the top. Ahead of them was one of the classic air-lock style doors that Haven was known for; there was no room for doubt now, they were back. The locking mechanism turned, the sound of the cogs and such familiar to the trio.

Loor shook her head, aiming her gaze forward and not answering the ottsel. Already her thoughts turned to the possible future; if something had changed about Morgans behavior, and that change was somehow traceable back to her own presence in this world, she would be obligated to fix it. If Morgan was this sick, and feeding information to someone who clearly had a few screws loose and a poor agenda, and it was somehow Loor's fault... she would have to correct the damage and prevent further issues.

If it became necessary, there was a chance that she'd have to kill Morgan just to stop her. It would mess with past events, but the creation of a trilogy of games seems pretty damn trivial compared to a war. Between a piece of entertainment and tens of thousands of lives... She knew what the right decision was. She just hoped she wouldn't have to make it.

What she saw through the door when it opened only seemed to reinforce that thought.

Memories of the North West side of Haven were clear in her head; she knew the place well both from the game and from personal experience. She'd done runs with Jak in this section when she'd been working on her physical abilities before banishment, and driven through it a couple times before on level with the canals to avoid air traffic and practice going faster than what was normally considered safe. She remembered it being an active and lively place, even during war-time.

Stepping out, those memories were shattered with the vision of collapsed buildings, broken roads, and burning debris. The burn of eco hit her senses as Jak followed her, looking around with just as much shock and dismay. Neither of them had expected to arrive in one of the ruined city sections, and to actually see it... both of them shared an awareness that Veger had been the true culprit behind the palace coming down, but the rest of this mess was due to the metal heads that had invaded the city from the West side. South of this section would be agriculture, where they'd probably established a nest by now. The eco they could both sense told them that the monsters were all around, watching them from the shadows between ruined buildings.

"What's going on...?" Loor wondered quietly. "We should be swarmed..."

"Not arguing." Jak said, though he pulled the morph gun out and swapped out for the scattergun. She followed as he started walking for where the zone connected with New Haven; if the landmarks were anything to go by they actually weren't too far from where FL HQ was. Falling into step she pulled her pistol out and loaded up a fresh clip, eyes remaining wary as her attention was attracted in a multitude of directions.

It was disturbing, being pulled so strongly in so many ways... her internal compass for eco sources felt like the needle was spinning in circles. Something else that was disturbing, possibly more than her confused biology, was the sight they saw while crossing one of the canals; one of the massive cables that had run from the palace to one of the support towers. It laid across the street like a giant piece of discarded string, hung between two groups of crushed buildings that may have been apartment complexes before the invasion. The sight made Loor feel incredibly small, and she found herself unconsciously walking a little faster to keep closer to Jak.

As they crossed the canal, she felt as if her internal compass had gone even more out of control. The numerous sources had been one thing, but now they were _moving._ Jak stopped, reacting in a way that said he felt the same. Turning around to put her back to him, her eyes probed around as her senses made her nauseous.

"What are they waiting for...?" She wondered as she still saw neither hide nor hair. She could clearly _feel_ the creatures all around her; why didn't they show?

"They have a leader again, remember?" Jak muttered. "Torn talked about this once... closer to the nest the drones will wait for direction before attacking unfamiliar creatures. The leader of the hive is more intelligent, and sometimes the orders aren't to eat the intruder alive."

Loor remembered Kor, and snorted. The monster had done business with the city for years while trying to locate the precursor stone. "You can say that again... so what do we do?"

"How about we keep moving?" Daxter suggested. "I say we be gone before they can decide!"

Tense nods were exchanged, the group moving for the section interchange with all senses on high alert. The hope was that they'd be able to get somewhere safe before planning their next move... assuming they got any time to plan before someone else told them to do something. No matter how adamant Jak had been about not helping the city, the fact stood that they were here... and kinda stuck, now that Loor thought about it. Their trip on the sub-rails had been a one-way ticket.

"Place is a goddamn mess..." She couldn't help muttering; coming back to the city wasn't much of an upgrade over the Wasteland. Her skin was starting to notice the different climate, and she felt damn cold.

"Kinda like my old bedroom back home." Daxter cracked, shooting Loor an encouraging smile.

"Now that you mention it..." Loor found herself wearing a lopsided smirk despite herself. "This could even give _my_ old bedroom a run for its money..."

"Jak! Loor! Over here!"

All eyes went up when someone shouted for them from up ahead. They'd made it to the interchange, and there was good news and bad news. Good news; Samos and Keira were there to greet them. Bad news; a white security block was up. As Loor had learned during her extra time in Haven, White was an all-out force-field, unlike the security walls that were color-coded to make exceptions for particular security passes.

"Samos! Keira!" Jak responded with surprised greetings of his own, trotting forward and leaving Loor to catch up.

"See, Keira?" Samos turned his head slightly to his daughter. "I _knew_ I could feel Jak's energy."

"You jeez, you can sense shit like that?" Loor asked, her tone several pegs below polite. Stopping at Jak's side, she made brief eye-contact with Keira through the blockade. Keira offered a small smile, but Loor had trouble returning it. Familiar faces reminded her of some old feelings she'd been detached from and never fully worked through between point A and point B.

Samos wore a disapproving look at Loor's harsh language, turning his attention to Jak. "My boy, it's good to see you again! Those passageways below the palace, they must be terribly important. The metal heads and KG robots are advancing toward them and we can't cold out forever."

"Understatement." Loor pointed out. "The city was crippled by both invasions. I'm surprised you guys lasted _this_ long."

"Loor." Daxter sounded like he was ready to lecture her. "Being enough of a morale crusher? Jeez."

"She's right." Keira agreed with a sigh. "Food, manufacture... and now they're both getting under the city's skin to try and shut down our power."

"So the city needs us again, huh?" Jak asked gruffly. "What else is new?"

"Veger has turned on the force fields here." Samos answered, trying to catch them up with the current situation.

"Veger's the one who attacked the palace!" Jak snapped, beating a fist against the gun he'd kept in his hand. "He said he was looking for something below, something in the catacombs. Or rather..." Jak glanced to Loor.

Morgan was her territory. The girl nodded and focused on the sage and his daughter. "Veger has an assistant; have either of you met her? Plain-looking woman, older than forty, younger than sixty, one hand all bandaged up."

"Morgan." Samos confirmed, sounding disappointed and sad. "I was surprised to see her still alive, in all honesty. And _here _of all places_..._ or should I say, _now, _of all times. It seems Haven has more extra players than it knows what to do with."

"Daddy?" Keira asked, confused. "You know her? But she hasn't talked to any of us."

"She didn't have to." Loor jumped in, trying to keep this short. She felt like she had her back to a bonfire; her sense for eco was distracting her as the movement she'd sensed before grew more pronounced. "Morgan used to live in Sandover's era. Before that, mine. She's well-traveled. Jak, Keira, Dax, you've all seen her before... but you were all toddlers at the time, and Morgan... well, blending in is what she does best." Her brow knit. "But now she's not blending in. She's _helping_ Veger with whatever his insane quest is. Samos, as far as you've seen... has the eco contamination she's suffering poisoned her mind? Is she to the point where it could make her sick in the head?"

"I'd need to examine her closer." Samos answered. "All I can sense is the taint in her blood and bone, not it's progression. I'd need to see it. But eco isn't the only thing that can drive a person mad; the pain alone may have broken her. I've pleaded with her to let me look at it, but she wont even acknowledge the presence of anyone but Veger."

"Great... it all comes back to Veger, and his scavenger hunt into the palace ruins..."

"Well, you're just going to have to find whatever it is he's looking for before he does." Samos said, skipping the details to put the situation simply. "But first, you'll need to find another way into this section of the city. Take the sewers into the port, then find a way north to reach us. And Jak... Loor..." Samos trailed off. "We're sorry for what happened. We should have stopped Veger."

Loor found herself shaking her head no, frowning a bit. Everything that had happened was as it was supposed to be, as far as she could sense. The apology seemed pointless in the grand scheme of things.

"I'll stop him myself." Jak growled, his face turning ugly.

* * *

><p><strong>The Author's Corner<strong>

Hokay guys I imagine you're wondering what the heck is up with the wonky schedule so I might as well tell, right?

So we all know that my hubby is in the Navy, right? Well the last time I vanished happened when he went underway for 2 months and the depression of being alone kinda crushed me. I don't have any friends in the community, and I don't talk to the other Navy wives because the all either have babies, want babies, or just talk non stop about babies... and I don't. I have hobbies. A life. I don't want to hear about people's kids and the gross things they did that day. I'm not having kids for at LEAST another six or seven years if I can help it. Right about the time that I was getting back into shit, going outside daily for walks and shit and eating regular... I got sick and was down for like a week. BLAAAAAH

Then my lovely came home, and there was much celebration *cough*sex*cough*

And then, this morning, my hubby is once again deployed for ANOTHER 2 damn months. I'm holding together a little better this time, but it's not being easy. The writing is a good distraction, but I'm worried that I'm not turning out a decent product... When I feel apathetic about everything it's tough to know if I'm writing up to standard. I get the feeling that there's gonna be a WHOLE lotta shit that's gonna get worked out on the final round of editing.

Oh, right, I should talk about that.

SO I have a Youtube channel. Big surprise, right? Loor Batu, for those who care to look me up, and care to look me up you might because I am currently in the process of making VoW into an AUDIOBOOK. As I do final editing on each chapter I will record myself reading the final version out-loud and then upload it to youtube with illustrations and such to go along with it. I put a sample up recently that gives the basic idea of what the heck I'm doing, so go check it out. :D

I'm not that great of a reader, but I'm told the sample I put up really got people's blood pumping. :D

Happy reading!

-Loor


	58. Homecoming

**Vacation or War-Endgame**  
><strong>Chapter Fifty Eight-Homecoming<strong>

The section of the sewer they'd gone through had been unfamiliar to all of them, and full of metal heads to boot. Comparing fragmented memory, Loor was actually comforted by the small variety that infested Haven after having seen the behemoth monstrosities that populated the wasteland. She found herself a lot calmer as she followed Jak's lead, dispatching all creatures they encountered and adsorbing all eco possible. They were headed into a war-zone... the destructive power they both carried could be very useful once they got top side.

Still, metal heads in the sewers suggested that the creatures might be able to duck under the force field and press their attack on the city. That made their eradication all the more important as they cut their way through.

Shortly after entering the sewers, both of their comm. units let off a notification tone. Pausing in the unpleasant trek, it was found that the devices had synced to Haven's locational grid and their maps were currently updating with the FL's database. With that update they were able to find their way, the feature able to direct them to an elevator that would bring them up in the port section.

From there the trip had been messy... but simple. Loor had wrapped her face up with her scarf the same way she had in the desert, trying to protect her nose from the smell but still feeling faint by the time they'd found the elevator. She'd always had a sensitivity to smell, and as far as she understood Lyra's own senses bled through her own. No doubt it made her aversion worse. Jak didn't seem to be a big fan either, and Daxter looked as if he was gonna be sick as they all climbed aboard the cargo lift and prayed for fresh air.

They got it, but they also got a view of what was left of this section. It wasn't pretty.

They emerged from the sewers in the wide lane that had once led straight north from the port to a large square before the palace. That lane was now blocked off, walled shut with smoldering wreckage from surrounding buildings and pieces of the palace that had straight up fallen off when it went down. One of the support cables also laid over things, the broken end of it leading eyes south into the port where it sloped down from crushed buildings to lay in the water. The two support towers in the port itself still stood; the loose cable in the water came from eastern tower where the connections had given before the tower itself crumbled. The other tower was still intact, cable and all, as the palace had fallen toward it. The cable simply sagged in a way that made Loor do a double take as her memory hit an uncanny valley between what had been and what was.

The port itself was still intact, but the air was tense. Townies wandered from place to place, going about their business, but there were also guards in armor near-identical to what had been regulation for KG members, but the pallet had been swapped out. Instead of red and black, these men were branded in blue and yellow. They roamed in packs of four or five, making up most of the street traffic and moving like a small wall of blue-painted armor.

The decision had been to move for a familiar point on the map; The Naughty Ottsel; Daxter wanted to check on the bar that he'd owned before they'd all gotten the boot, and hoped that Tess wouldn't be too far since she'd been helping him manage the place. It didn't take long, though walking along the port strip again was oddly surreal. It was still safe here, but one could close their eyes and still feel the fact that something was horribly wrong. Something was just about ready to crack, given the right push.

That got them to walk faster, arriving at the Naughty Ottsel and finding the bar sign lit. They also found the door crowded by supply boxes, filled with ammunition. Confused glances were traded among the trio, Jak leading the way in through the automatic door.

"Ah, the Naughty Ottsel!" Daxter said as the door was opening and they entered. "Honey, I'm home!"

Looking inside made it evident that Dax had spoken a little too soon; the Ottsel had changed. The roped off ring in the center of the room was gone, along with the pole it had been built around. The slightly raised stage remained, but it had been replaced by a computer bank that looked like it belonged in the Power Station. The mirror behind the bar was gone, posters and maps hanging on the rough wall with scribbled ink on many of them, possibly indicating enemy movement through the city. The booths set into the walls were either occupied by weapons or curtained off as make-shift sleeping areas, and the floor had been scuffed by many boots and heavy storage crates for even more munitions.

In the middle of this military re-make, Torn stood by the computer, leaning on it much the same way he'd leaned on his old map table back in the underground. "Jak? Loor? I never thought I'd see you two again." He said with genuine surprise as he looked up at the open door and the entering trouble trio, standing straight.

"Torn?!" Daxter was horrified at the makeover. "_What_ are you doing to my place?!"

Torn shrugged as if it couldn't be helped. "We needed a southern HQ for the war. Plus... I kinda like the sign with the ottsel head outside."

Daxter blinked, and Loor felt herself taking on a strange expression. These two were always fighting; what in the world was Torn playing at? "Yeah, it's cool, huh?" Dax said, wearing a smug smile.

Torn returned the ottsel's smile with a devilish grin. "We use it for target practice."

"Hey!"

_Oh. Well, glad to know he's still the same. _Loor did her best not to giggle as Daxter looked about ready to pitch a fit.

Torn quickly swapped modes, turning his attention from antagonizing Daxter and looking to both Loor and Jak. It seemed part of him wanted to return to their previous status-quo, where he was the angry superior officer giving orders to a couple of misbehaving teenagers, but that wasn't the case anymore. At a glance it was obvious that they'd both grown up a bit, and Torn's head lowered slightly in a mixture of shame and respect. "Listen... I'm sorry we couldn't stop Count Veger. We all are."

"We just saw the high-and-mighty idiot." Loor said. "He's trying to use precursor technology for something, self-assured that _he's_ the one that's gonna save the city."

"Figures." Torn shook his head, frowning. "That guy was always one monk short of a choir, but we've got bigger problems right now."

"How exactly did _you_ end up down here?" She asked. "You should be at FL HQ."

"Veger." The tattooed commander huffed with more than a little rage contained in the tone. "He's currently in command of a lot of our military power, including me. When he ordered me to move south to try and cut through industrial, I couldn't argue even when I knew it was suicide. We got cut off, and now we can't get back north. My men managed to re-take the port, but those KG bots have barricaded the industrial section, and _no one_ is getting back north through the metal head section."

"Agriculture is that bad?"

"There's nothing left." Torn looked down, stress creasing his face as his brow came down over his eyes. "Last time we got a scout even close to the place we found out a nest had been established within the walls, and all the crops and livestock were gone. Now our forces are divided and we've got the KG and metal head fronts squeezing us from both sides!"

"Never fear, the trouble trio is here!" Daxter assured with a flourish, though Loor was less than convinced that even _they_ could fix all of this.

"Assuming none of us pass out on our feet, first..." Loor muttered, not even wanting to think about how long she'd been awake. Such a condition led to her exhibiting a jumpy reaction when something on Torn's computer bank beeped at him, causing her to hop away and stare at the thing as if it were about to attack her.

She got the feeling that Jak was giving her a funny look, but Torn didn't spare time for it. He quickly pressed a few buttons on the machine, a glowing projection leaping into the air from its central components. "Uh oh... Speaking of trouble." He looked up at the projection, along with everyone else. There was the form of a machine in the air; a self-contained mechanical monster with four legs that let it lumber along at a fairly steady pace. There was a laser cannon mounted on top, the rest of it covered in heavy armor. From past experience, Loor knew that armor protected a payload of high explosives.

"Son of a... blast bot, huh?" Loor asked.

"Three of them, incoming from the KG city section." She expected his frown to dig deeper into his face, but instead he looked up to her and Jak. "They're heading this way... can you handle it?" The challenge was evident in his voice.

Daxter's ears fell, looking as if he suddenly wanted to be anywhere else. "Okay..." He let off a nervous chuckle. "So we've got a little fear... but Jak is here!"

"What about me?" Loor asked, giving the ottsel a look. For some reason Torn's smile expressed confidence in them that was contagious. It made sense for Jak, but he'd looked at her too, and she felt some of her competitive fire kicking in.

"You finally throwing in with us?" Jak asked. "No more bitching about how you don't belong?"

The question caught her slightly off guard, but she was already moving for the door. With a quick step, she got there first and grinned over her shoulder. "Home sweet war-zone."

* * *

><p>The three blast bots had found their way out of the industrial section, two of them tromping their way through the main strip of the port and the third one taking the long way around. Jak gave Loor nothing more than a pat on the shoulder before running for the water, pulling the JET-board from his back to hover over the water and get to the far-off blast bot faster. That left her with the other two on their way in; no doubt Jak would take care of his quarry quickly and loop around for a sneak-attack from behind, but with any luck she'd be able to take them both out before he showed up.<p>

Forcing her sore legs into gear, she started running against a general flow of townies who were on the move away from the approaching bombs on legs. As much as her shoulder hated her for it, she went for the big gun. Less than a few hours ago this thing had helped take out a precursor robot; assuming she wasn't out of ammunition her little cannon was going to make this mission pretty easy.

Jogging past the north road and turning inwards, she found herself on the mostly straight strip that extended from the gun course to industrial. There was a slight curve to it, but her line of sight was mostly unobstructed. The stream of townies had dried up, the only other people left in front of her being FL guards trying to slow the incoming blast bots down.

She remembered the last time she'd faced down one of these things. She'd rushed in and triggered the explosives without thinking about the fact that she, Jak, and Daxter had been _way_ too close. This time she wasn't going to make that mistake. Spreading her feet wide and staying standing this time as she hefted the large weapon onto her shoulder, prepping to fire while gauging just how fast the bot was moving. She needed the guards stalling it to be close enough to hear her when she told them to get out of the way, but she wanted to try and get both of them before they cleared this section of the port.

She mentally cursed not getting Torn's number onto her new comm. unit; she could have called the Tattooed Wonder and gotten him to order his men to get out of the way. Either way, she decided to start walking forward with her weapon ready to go as soon as she released the triggers.

Soon as she thought she was within range, she started shouting at the guards to get out of the way. They didn't notice her at first, but eventually one of them looked back and realized she was coming in with a heavy-hitter. In moments he alerted his friends and they scattered, rushing past her in the same way the townies had not too long ago.

She gritted her teeth, well aware of what was coming. Her weapon was vibrating on her shoulder, ready for it whenever she was. The hulk of the machine was several yards away in front of her, the laser mounted on top coming around to target her. The other one on this path was another few yards behind it, and still had a dozen FL guards underfoot, distracting it and slowing its progress. The front runner, however, sped up when the boys in blue hoofed it.

Sure that a raw spot was forming on her shoulder, she fired.

The impact made her take a few steps back, but she managed to stay standing. The same could actually be said for her enemy as well; four legs scrambled to keep it upright as the blue and yellow shot slammed into it, getting close to the water just beyond the edge of the road but correcting itself before going in. Then, just as it seemed it might keep moving despite the stutter the blue sparks were introducing to its locomotion, the yellow core of the shot detonated with enough force that one of its legs went flying, and the rest weren't far behind as it triggered the main package.

_Note to self... earplugs wouldn't be a bad idea if I keep this thing. _

Smoke was clogging up her view but she didn't wait to try and see what was coming before depressing the triggers of her weapon again. Viability didn't matter right now; she'd need time to charge up for the next one anyway.

She blinked when there was no response from her weapon. The moment passed as she folded the thing back up and replaced it on her back; she must have run out of shots. Understanding that, she swapped out for her pistol and ran to join the cadre of guards already working over her second target. The ones who had moved out of the way for the first followed her in, all of them armed either with variations of the blaster or some kind of arc-gun that fired blue sparks of energy that didn't seem to be getting through the machine's armor.

While the guards made a ring of blue outside the robot, moving with the red monstrosity as it continued on its way, Loor moved to walk under it. From beneath it she could see all the moving pieces that went into making the legs work; they weren't protected from the underbelly. As much as she didn't like bigger machinery, her mind was quick to figure out how things were put together. Trotting to keep her position under the bot, she readied her pistol to aim for the points where the mechanism was anchored to the structure of the leg itself, close enough her her sometimes sloppy accuracy didn't matter. Any of the guards could have done this just as easily... but their bulky armor would never fit in such a tight space. The fact that she was small and quick on her feet became her main advantage here, crippling one leg with a few shots.

The result was fairly instant. The leg lifted up, and then broke apart upon the shock of going down. The armor fell free of it, connections snapping with the shriek of wrenching metal. Without the structure the pipes and gears collapsed under the weight of the rest of the machine-

Only for the bot to catch and correct itself, continuing to move with three legs. It was much slower, but it continued on.

Worse, it seemed to be aware that something was below it. Weather it was an effect of the altered gait it had to use, or simply the fact that it knew she was there, the blast bot began to walk in a way where the heavy points of its legs came down close enough together that there was not enough safe space left for Loor to stay beneath it.

Leaping forward, Loor grabbed the crumpled pieces of the leg she'd destroyed, swinging from the disabled pieces that were still attached. That had her safe for the moment, and it would be as simple as timing it right to get out from under this thing and out of it's attack range, but that still left the task of taking it down.

The shock of its lumbering movement was going to shake her off soon enough; it was time to think fast or bail.

"GET CLEAR!"

A voice roared over the scene, making the decision for her; someone else had come along to finish this thing off. Leaping off and beating feet the moment she was on the ground, she found herself in a crush of blue armor and looking back over her shoulder to see what was going on.

She'd known the shout had come from Jak; she'd know his voice anywhere, regardless of tone. And, if her directional awareness was worth anything, his shout had come from _above _her while she'd been clinging to the blast bot's ruined leg. This was confirmed when she looked; Jak stood atop the machine with his hands wrenching on the laser mounted on top. The weapon in question was firing in a steady stream, trying to get whatever had begun this new assault from above. With a heave it came loose, and Jak quickly aimed it at one of the remaining legs. As one might have expected, the laser melted through the metal like a hot knife through butter. With two legs out of commission the rest of it was going down, and Loor caught a glimpse of Jak leaping off of it before she put her head down and dug in to get further away.

The explosion still hit her like a hot slap to the back, but there were enough people around her that she was able to keep her feet simply by bouncing off of them. Slowing down after that required her to fight her adrenaline, remastering proper control of her body as her limbs shook with the desire to keep moving or simply give out from under her. Shambling to a stop as the guards around her kept moving, she looked back at the burning leftovers of the blast bot; the payload had triggered when it hit the ground, putting it to pieces and throwing some of the bits of the one she'd taken down before it.

The question now was... where did Jak go?

"That was a nice warm-up."

Unable to help it, she jumped and whipped around to find Jak behind her, having just leapt up from the water and putting the JET-board away. Crafty son of a bitch...

"You are _both_ insane!" Daxter shouted, looking more than a little worse for ware. "Where in _hell _is my manager? I need to chill out..."

"Manager?" Loor asked, feeling one eyebrow coming up and glad no one teased her about her impression of Vin.

"Tess." The ottsel responded. "Y'know, managing the Ottsel for me? Jeez toots, keep up!"

"Tess?" Eyes went up as one of the guards who had been helping repel the attack caught a piece of their conversation. "She's usually over at the gun course."

"The gun course?" Loor parroted, looking at the boy in blue slightly sideways. "Why would she be-?"

"Thanks, buddy!" Daxter cut her off before she could finish, pointing ahead. "Onwards my cronies!"

"We're cronies now?" Loor asked dryly, her legs moving automatically when Jak started walking.

"Apparently." All he could do was roll his eyes with a shrug. Sometimes it was better not to argue.

* * *

><p><strong>The Author's Corner<strong>

Another chapter down! :D

Confused Loor is confused. Just like drowsy Loor is jumpy.

Happy reading!

-Loor


	59. Recalibrate

**Vacation or War-Endgame  
><strong>**Chapter Fifty Nine-Recalibrate**

Daxter hadn't wasted a second once the door to the gun course was open and he had Tess in sight; with a leap he was on the floor and bounding towards the blond woman with a jubilant grin on his fuzzy face. Loor found herself grinning as well; she hadn't realized just how much Daxter must have missed her. He seemed like a flirt, but there were clearly some real feelings going on here. Tess, reacting to the sound of the door opening, lifted her head from whatever she was currently doing at some kind of wall-mounted work bench to see the new arrivals... and break into a smile of her own. "Daxter!" She almost shouted while kneeling down to receive the ottsel in a hug, picking him up in both arms to snuggle him. "Oooo... did that mean old desert burn your itty bitty paws?" She cooed. Daxter seemed to enjoy the treatment at first, before he noticed Loor and Jak bringing up the rear and snickering at him.

"H-hey Tess, baby," His protest did not sound particularly resolute, though it got her to loosen her hands. "Don't crusha-the-merchandise." He said while hopping back down to the ground and turning to look up at her. "How's biz?"

"I'm designing new guns to help out the war effort." She answered, baby blue eyes sweeping around and antiquating herself with the fact that they were back.

"Jeez... first an underground agent, a spy, a barmaid, and now a gun-slinging maiden." Loor snickered, looking down at Dax. "Guess it's good to have someone who can keep up with you, eh Dax?"

"Loor!" Tess's eyes widened in surprise. "The underground... you remember?"

"Yeah." She smiled at the blondie while putting her hands behind her head, as if she meant to lounge on thin air. "Fully functional and ready to keep fighting. So, you make guns now? Anything we can use?"

"You bet." Tess went back to the work bench to pick up what she'd been working on. From the basic look it was another mod for the morph gun, but one that added a lot of bulk. It was almost too long for Tess to hold properly. "I just finished this new gun. It sports a multi-port, large-bore, gyro-burst launcher with blow-back breech assist, using full-jacket eco-depleted armor-piercing slugs and a continuous kill zone scanner for tight groupings at a high-cycle rate of fire..." Her eyes had narrowed through her explanation as she cocked the weapon, a smile taking up on her pretty face that was dangerous. Swept up in the moment, she blinked and giggled at herself when she caught sight of the shocked looks she was getting from both Jak and Loor. "Hehe... it's a hobby." Was all she had to say in her defense.

Daxter made his way back up to Jak's shoulder as he finally smiled in return at the woman and reached out to take the new weapon, but she stepped back and hefted it a little as if she meant to turn it on him. "Not so fast!" She taunted, sounding mischievous now and shifting the weapon to rest in one hand and on her hip to reach a hand out to Daxter. "First you have to prove you can protect my little _schunuckums _in the new gun course." After giving Daxter a brief stroke under the chin she jerked her thumb towards the heavy door that would lead to the practice range. "Go on, Jakkie-boy, unless you think you can't handle it. I've modified the program a bit, so all your old scores have been cleared from the system. You'll have to beat Torn's marks for me to trust you with _this_ one."

Loor watched as Daxter practically melted at Tess's touch, looking completely smitten and not even noticing that his partner was glaring daggers at him. "This won't take long." Jak huffed, pulling the blaster from his back and moving for the door. Still, he paused in route and pulled something else from the leather case that hung on his back. "Oh, Tess, see what you can make of this? We found it on our way in." With a toss he passed over the piece of scrap metal he'd picked up after they'd finished off the precursor robot, Tess catching it in her free hand as the boys vanished beyond the blast doors.

"That was quite a display." Loor snickered.

"It is _so_ good not to be doing spy work anymore." Tess gushed while putting her new gun back on the work bench and taking a look at what Jak had given to her. "When I was working with Krew I had to keep in character; it sucks pretending to be a bimbo." Her eyes flashed up at Loor, a smirk picking up. "Don't tell me I had _you_ fooled too?"

"I won't lie to ya." Loor put her hands up, feeling a little ashamed. She was always advocating not judging a book by its cover, but she had certainly judged Tess. "I like you better this way though. Nice to know you can play a little hard-ball."

"What is this thing?" Tess asked while reaching back to her work bench and retrieving a tool. "Looks like some kind of laser module but..."

"We found under the city." Loor answered. "Broken off from some old precursor automaton. Jak must have thought we could use it somehow."

"Yeah, I just have to alter the connection." She agreed. "Shouldn't be too tough, though. So," She set that aside, clearing her hand and coming closer. "You wanna tell me about that new piece of hardware on your back? I remember Daxie complaining about how you were so stubborn about carrying a gun, and now it looks like you've picked up some heavy machinery."

"A tough gun for tough work." Loor answered while stretching her arms to lift the thing out of its holster. "I scavenged it out in the wasteland... the previous owner wasn't going to be using it anymore. 'Course, you can't ask for directions from a dead man. I don't know the first thing about it, aside from firing it. It's got more kick than I wanna talk about, and as far as I can tell it's out of ammo." She pulled it to settle on her shoulder, though she did so gingerly. All bones involved were still sore from the last round they'd gone.

"Looks like someone's homemade custom job." Tess's hands brushed along the surfaces while circling around to see the weapon from various angles. "Defiantly made for someone a bit bigger and beefier than you, no offense."

"None taken." She sighed; she'd come to terms with the fact that she was a small person a while ago. "Think you could pad this thing up for me? Just something to eat up some of the shock, or the damn thing is gonna dislocate my shoulder."

"I could get you set up with a classic peace maker instead." Tess pointed out while gently taking the weapon from Loor's shoulder, flipping it over to inspect the curved recess that had made Loor assume the weapon was meant to rest on one's shoulder. "Wait... no, that's different... this thing does more than an ionized blast?"

"As far as I can tell, yeah. It's like fire from a peace maker but it flies straight and explodes just a moment after impact. It may do a number on me, but I like it. Think you could modify it to fit me a little better?"

"Just a moment- ah!" Tess had turned the weapon once again, the head of the gun facing the floor as she pressed on a square piece the size of a large man's palm sticking out of the butt end. With a good whack it clicked and came further out of the rear of the gun, exposing some of the inner workings as Tess pulled it the rest of the way out. "Ingenious; whoever put this together really had practicality in mind. Here, this is your baby, come and take a look." The section she was pulling out of the gun was soon free, and she held it out for Loor to take while eying the space left behind within.

Loor found herself holding a rectangle of metal the size of a car battery, though thankfully a bit lighter. The main structure was a metal framework around several spaces that held various types of ammo cartridges she'd seen before... all of which were currently empty, and needed to be removed. In pulling out the dead ammo packs, she found the gun used a grand total of three different types of common ammunition; a combination of yellow, probably giving the shot its straight flight-path, purple for the ionized shot, and finally a red cartridge that most likely provided the extra boom. Loor had ended up pulling out a half dozen yellow clips, two red rounds, and one purple ball. "Jeez... was that guy hunting wasteland metal heads on a daily basis?"

"You see some great innovation whenever someone brings back weapons from the wasteland." Tess said, a wide smile on her face.

"Innovation. Right." Loor remembered when innovation, to her, meant new ways of producing energy or making the world more nature-friendly. It was almost funny how different her life was now. "Innovation is inventing a gun so violent you can't fire it inside."

"Is that a challenge?" Tess asked with a giggle, looking over her shoulder. "I'm bettin' this place could take it. I'm sure _you_ could use a run on the gun-course too, missy. Your old scores are still in the databank, and I gotta say, I'm not impressed."

* * *

><p>"She's <em>what?"<em>

"Holding my big gun hostage until I improve my scores on the gun course." Loor was pouting, her back feeling incredibly light after carting around the big boom stick for so long. "If I improve enough to make her happy, she'll pad the cradle and give it back to me." Her eyes tracked over to Daxter, who seemed to be in a world all his own as they made their way back to the Naughty Ottsel with the intent of reporting in to Torn and finding out what was next. The fact that his girlfriend was being hard on her didn't seem to bother him much more than Tess using her latest mod as a carrot in front of Jak's nose had. Granted, Jak had been able to meet her expectations with relative ease, and had already loaded the latest mod onto his back, as well as the modified piece from the precursor wreckage.

Loor, on the other hand, seriously doubted her abilities to measure up.

"It's a good way to make you practice." Jak pointed out, not showing much pity for her after the initial reaction. "Assuming we're not all dead in the next few days, we might find an extra second or two to spend working on it."

"Middle of a war-zone, and I've gotta worry about _shooting practice?" _She shook her head, hooking her thumbs on her belt with no pockets to stuff her hands into. "Thirteen cents says we're gonna run into something that the big boom-stick would have been really useful against while I don't have it."

"Quit whining." Jak advised with a chuckle and a slug to the shoulder, trying to get her to straighten up and look alive as they neared the Naught Ottsel. "You're the melee expert, remember?"

She shot him a look; he was all pleased with himself after getting his new toys. Something in his expression made her feel like he was saying she didn't need to worry about shooting with all the different stuff he was packing. Rolling her eyes, she returned the slug and scoffed. "_Expert. _Right. Says the guy who I still can't consistently pin."

He shrugged, the three of them arriving at the Ottsel's door step and slipping into the bar turned southern HQ. Torn was inside, intent on his giant computer in the middle of the room, seeming to be working hard on making something work. Head down, punching at buttons to try and adjust something, projectors within the computer fired up to create a fuzzy holographic image of someone's head that slowly focused the more Torn worked at it. "Ashelin?" He quested, doubtlessly talking into some sort of microphone while a super-size of Ashelin's face took shape in the hologram. "Ashelin, this is Torn. Jak and Loor are back in the city."

"Jeez... It's like that little thing we saw in the wasteland, super-sized." Loor muttered, watching as the moment Ashelin's image was properly captured it swayed and turned to look about the room, soon locating the newly returned trouble-trio.

"_Jak?"_ Ashelin didn't bother to address Loor, more focused on the actual ring-leader of the show. Fair enough, Loor considered... but for some reason it still kinda stung. _"I know I could count on you." _

Torn wore a grin, putting a hand on his hip and straightening up from the computer. "That new KG leader is probably pissing in his-"

Ashelin's image suddenly broke up, the expression on the woman's projected face turning to a level of shock as she opened her mouth to say something but was cut off.

"Wait!" Torn returned to the controls, trying to figure out what was happening. "Someone's jamming the signal... I think-"

There was nothing but fuzz for a moment, but the image soon recompiled into a different face. One that, though broken, Jak, Daxter, and Loor had all seen before. On that damaged communicator, on the sands of the wasteland, they had seen this unclearly projected face. Now, with a sharp image, Jak was the first to identify the face that grinned at them.

"Errol!" He shouted, taking a step forward as if he meant to intimidate a man who wasn't even in the room... and who was arguably no longer a man.

Loor was shocked, when she thought nothing could shock her anymore. She remembered Errol too well as her tormentor, as a man who had gotten just a little too close to her otherworldly origins, and a man who had died at the class one races. Now she saw his face yet again, and even projected she could detect something very wrong with it; it was half gone. One half was exactly as she remembered it, from the smug sneer to the aggressive gaze of his eyes, but the other half appeared to be ripped away. Instead of exposed bones, however, machinery covered his losses and tried to imitate the expressions the missing half of his face would usually form. Upon his name being shouted at him, he laughed, his voice given a robotic and tinny sound.

"_I live!" _He proclaimed, doubtless that he'd shocked everyone in the room._ "Still fighting for the weak link, eh Jak? And Loor! Our little outsider! Are things still going according to plan?" _He laughed, a menacing and ugly thing with the tinny quality that had been added to his voice._ "I've had a few 'enhancements' since we last met. Even the metal heads have their biological weaknesses. But me? I'm pure metal!" _

"Metal...?" Loor blinked, trying to shake away the surprise of it all and better identifying what she was looking at. She wasn't looking at a human face with a mechanical half, she was looking at a mechanical face with skin _grafted over the top. _Disgusted and disturbed, she soon found herself taking a step forward the same as Jak had, desperate to put on some show of force. "Abomination!"

"_You'd think that, wouldn't you, Loor? I'd **love** to meet you again, and introduce you to some new friends I've made... Why, now that I think about it, it's our little game of hide and seek all over again! Catch me, if you can." _

The connection broke, fuzzing out and, instead of returning to Ashelin's face, came back together to show that Samos was also in on this communication. _"We must unite our forces, or we're through! You've got to reach us!" _

Ashelin's face appeared again a second after, beginning to make Loor dizzy with the quick changes. _"We need you to break through and link up with us before it's too late."_ She re-iterated. _"The KG robots are growing stronger. That floating war factory of theirs is spitting out more robots every day." _

Torn nodded, being the man on the ground and thus the one to make plans. The communication ended the moment Ashelin was done talking, and Torn had his complete attention back on his field team. "We need to assault the KG front. If we can break through their defenses, we may be able to get back to HQ and link up." Torn then offered them a smile. "Care to make some noise?"

"We're always up for a little rumble, eh guys?" Jak asked while bumping up the shoulder Daxter rode on. Even the ottsel looked psyched for this one, dangerous grins getting traded all around.

"Fish in a barrel, baby!" Daxter boasted. "_Fish_ in a _barrel." _

Eyes turned to Loor, who still wasn't taking the sight of Errol, alive, and an twisted mockery of science, too terribly well. "How did he...? How _is_ he...?" She muttered, a hand going to her head as she asked the questions that fed her shock. "He claims mechanical, but he's exactly the same! Voice, the way he talks, his idea of self..."

Daxter made the hop over to Loor's shoulder, grabbing her head by the goggles and giving her a shake. "Honey, you with us here? We've got a war in the way before we can find out anything."

"Actually." Torn broke in. "Our first order of business is to punch through a blockade that's been set up at the south end of the industrial section. Jak, Daxter, you should be able to handle that on your own. Loor, Tess called ahead. Says she thinks she could use a little work before I toss you back onto the field like old times."

"What?" Loor felt herself partially jarred. _Go through the wasteland and still no one trusts me to aim straight down the sights. _"I mean... ugh... yeah, alright. I'll get moving."

"We'll meet up later." Jak encouraged as Daxter hopped back over, taking his usual spot. "Be careful; the gun-course actually shoots back now."

"It _what..?_" Loor shook her head. What in the world did Tess think she was doing? Someone had left that lady alone for too long. "... right. You too. Y'know, active war zone. Where _everything_ shoots back."

* * *

><p><strong>The Author's Corner<strong>

I'm not even going to try and explain my absence. To put it simply, fanfiction is something I do for _my_ enjoyment. This story is something I write because **I** enjoy it. But when I was stressing over every fucking update, it wasn't fun anymore. So no more stress. No more forcing myself. You guys are getting this shit for _**fucking free, **_I don't owe you anything. It'll update when it fucking updates, and not a nanosecond sooner.

Onwards!

-Loor


End file.
